Due East

Straight from chick flick hell into your homes courtesy of Showtime comes this sappy story about a small town (Due East) girl who gets pregnant and then has to deal with...um, well, getting expelled from school and lots of people who want to help her beyond all reason, throwing money at her problem, etc. The films fails to deal with he real problems of unwed-mother-to-be-hood, offers marginally convincing performances, and distills to just so much blathering. Recommended for females only.

I saw this movie recently one night and liked what I saw. It's a touching story about a young girl played by Clara Bryant who must deal with the trials and tribulations of being a pregnant teenager in the highly-conservative South and try to fix her relationship with her father, in which the two have fallen out of touch since the day her mother died. Bryant is a talented young actress and does a beautiful job of showing the emotions that her character goes through. It's not the type of movie you'll watch over and over again, but it's definitely worth watching at least once. If you like stories of triumph that make you feel good in the end, I recommend seeing this film.

I'm not really sure where I sit on this one. On one hand, some of the plot was very original. I've never seen a film where the teenage girl got pregnant by a guy who wasn't an asshole. He seemed decent.

It wasn't very well developed though, the story really should have focused more on her relationship with the father of her baby. Instead it kind of trailed off on a little thing about HER dad. That actor sucked by the way. His little "you're pregnant?!" thing was really acted out poorly. He gets an F for his performance.

As a female, I'd have to say it still has me mostly won over...come on, it's starts with them in the bathtub! I'm a girl. Give me a break. I liked it.

The story is a setup to blast conservative-religious attitudes toward a pregnant teenager attending high school. It does a good job and it's hard to believe a principal would actually expell a valedictorian girl just because she was pregnant and it made people uncomfortable. They way she was, everybody loved her and she got lots of support and the mean old principal had to back down, especially after she wrote a brilliant letter in the town newspaper that got her lots of support. What was satisfying was the quality of the acting of the girl, who had a quiet simple honesty and intelligence about her. In a pivotal scene the principal blusters "how could such an intelligent girl do something so STUPID?" She answered simply that she didn't PLAN to get pregnant... no surprise. The father of the child died and in the end... well, better not give it away. It's a touching scene.

Of all the movies I have seen on the Lifetime channel, this is one of the best. It has a great cast, a lot of recognizable names like Kate Capshaw and Cybill Shepard, and it has a good storyline that never drags. There are a lot of characters, so the movie doesn't just focus on Mary Faith's pregnancy. It shows her friend's situation with her ex-husband and the changes she goes through over the course of the movie. Then there is the relationship her father has with his girlfriend and the grieving parents of the father of her child. Even though it is a little unrealistic that the southern community she lives in would be so understanding and supportive of the choices she makes, the rest of the movie is very realistic - in what the girl goes through and in dialogue. Also, I love the message of this movie. It's not all preachy and doesn't make Mary Faith look like a slut or a typical "unwed mother". I would recommend this movie to anyone who would like to see an above average Lifetime-esque movie.