DANGEROUS MINDS. Directed by John N. Smith; written by Ronald Bass; produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer for Hollywood Pictures. Starring Michelle Pfeiffer. Rated R.
More reviews by —
TITLE:
RATING:
Even though Dangerous Minds is just another retelling of an old story, it's still moving and at least somewhat effective. Some of its success is due to its sincere and talented cast, but there's also the undeniable point that we can stand to hear a story this important more than once.
The tale in question is the same as Stand and Deliver, Blackboard Jungle, and goodness knows how many other movies. A teacher who cares about her students, thinks they can accomplish more than anyone else does, and isn't afraid to buck the educational establishment, can work wonders. Even if her class has finished off three teachers in less than one term and the administrator who hires her is afraid to tell her too much about the kids for fear she won't take the job.
In Stand and Deliver the hook for the kids was math. Here it's poetry. And the teacher's a woman. Otherwise, the movies are almost identical. Both teachers not only have to struggle against the kids' "so-what" and "I can't do that" attitudes, but also have to deal with an out-of-touch administration and even parents who occasionally work against their offspring's best interests.
Pfeiffer, as real-life English teacher LouAnne Johnson, might seem at first blush an odd choice for the gritty kind of performance Dangerous Minds calls for. But far from being (only) a glamorous performer, she can show steel beneath the silk with the best of them. It's her performance that makes the movie work better than it really has a right to, given its completely predictable plot and ragged narrative style.
For instance, I couldn't help but wonder about the kids' other 5 or 6 periods of class during the day. Can one teacher's high expectations really outweigh the (presumably) less sympathetic messages from everyone else in the system? And what about LouAnne's other classes? Are they all like second period? Whether they are or not, to get a complete picture of what's she's going through, we need to see them, at least briefly.
The students themselves fall a little too neatly into stereotypes that let the story make its points. But, again, the talent and just basic appeal of the actors overcome the script's shortcomings. Renoly Santiago, Wade Dominguez and Bruklin Harris, as the three kids the story focuses on, are especially fine.
September 13, 1995