User Reviews

Interesting idea and storyline which didn't quite work.

When you see the film, maybe you will feel as dissatisfied with the ending as I did. I didn't really know who to root for in the movie, Taye Diggs looked bored as the detective, the rest of the characters seem so one-dimensional and unpleasant.

If the victim Alicia(Mia Kirschner) had been more of a nice girl, we might actually have enjoyed seeing the plot unfold and the perpetrator brought to justice. The problem was that she was as bitchy as the other girls, turning from sweet girl to conniving opportunistic cokehead. I can't understand the moral message of this film, and as a detective story and thriller it doesn't work.

Confused and confusing who-dun-it filmed in a relentlessly jerky TV style with at least 95% close-ups that make it even more difficult to follow the action. Just about everyone in the whole cast of about ninety people receive a close-up. The viewer has no idea whether they are important to the plot or not. Only the investigator himself and the headmaster – in a much smaller role – make any impression. Even the victim herself is not firmly delineated. Nor are her friends – if they are "friends"! It's impossible to tell who is who! Who are the "good" people and who are the rotten apples? And at the end of the movie, we are just left in a state of complete confusion. In fact, we are even more confused than we were while the plot was jerkily unfolding. Who was the best friend of who? As far as the principle plot and all the sub-plots were concerned, virtually nothing was explained, nothing was made clear. The only plot item that was made quite emphatically was the small and rather insignificant point that the racist headmaster didn't cotton to the sheriff. As a result, the headmaster sought to have the sheriff sacked, and possibly did so – but even this was not made crystal clear!

This film follows the established template for a successful "chick-flick" very closely. It's story, written by a woman, is about an exclusive young ladies finishing school. It is directed by a woman, has a largely female cast, and is designed to appeal most to maturing young women at the time when they leave their protective homes and move into a tempting and exciting world that they probably appreciate may be hazardous; at least until they understand it better. Sensible girls who were brought up by mature mothers are generally duly cautious, but obviously remain curious and plan to paddle a little once they are sure they will not get out of their depth. Such films help them develop a perspective from which they can establish a behaviour pattern that will hopefully be appropriate for their personality, ambitions and life objectives, and there will always be a big enough demand for them to make any appeal to other segments of the movie going population optional. Why then should I, an elderly widower have watched this film; and what right would I have to write comments such as this afterwards, or to pass judgement on its success or otherwise?

The answer to the first question is simple - I had not even heard of this film when a librarian I know well chanced to remark whilst shelving their DVD's that it was a very similar story to "Cruel Intentions". This piqued my interest so I looked up other comments in this database. At least two IMDb users have referred to it as reminiscent of both "Cruel Intentions" and "Wild Things", two films I very much enjoyed, so I borrowed the DVD to assess it for myself. Unfortunately, despite quite high expectations, I was very disappointed; whether the fault lay with me for watching the wrong film or reflects more general problems, is for others to decide but I will comment briefly on it whilst answering my second question above.

"New Best Friend" certainly showed similarities to both "Cruel Intentions" and "Wild Things". Some of its more extreme characterisation reminded me a little of David Lean's "Wild at Heart" (which I also enjoyed watching), and I also found its emphasis on drug culture reminiscent of "Total Romance". All five of these films (yes I can count - there were two parts to "Total Romance") had one thing in common. After viewing them I felt I had been watching a slice of real life - not just reel life (only an enjoyable story). Unless the acting is really poor, which I do not think was the problem here, this is a very intangible distinction. Ultimately it arises when the viewer never forgets he or she is watching somebody play a part. This may not be due to the actors but to a poor script, bad direction, improbable locations, faulty cinematography or any one of a number of other factors. In this case I believe it was the life experience of the principal members of the cast that was the problem. I did not feel they were too old - good actors can and do often overcome considerable age barriers in the parts they undertake (consider for example Krystal Nausbaum in "The Memory Keeper's Daughter"), and can also simulate many characteristics, such as violence, hatred, piety, devotion, etc. which may not be natural to them, when required for a part. However some things mark a person in ways which are difficult for even the best of actors to emulate, and one of the most important of these is the experience which comes with maturity. These remained a cast of mature actors playing young ingénues and it was never possible to be unaware that they had been out in the world for quite a bit, totally unlike young girls who had been sent straight from protective homes to an exclusive finishing school. Some of these problems of course were due to the script requiring the characters to think and act unrealistically, but I believe the impact of this would have been less with a much less worldly wise cast, with only the detective old enough to give any appearance of having post-schooling experiences of life.

How can I give a helpful and appropriate rating to this film? I enjoyed watching it enough to avoid any feeling that I had wasted my time. The cast had obviously tried very hard and I would like to simply thank them for their efforts. This was not designed to be a memorable film carrying an important message. It was one of the 95% of films designed to be enjoyed and then, like most paperback books, forgotten. If almost perfect, it might have qualified for a maximum rating of 5 or 6, badly made probably 1 or 2. As it stands my rating - which I recognise would be of no interest or value to the young viewers forming its potential audience - would be 3. I do not enjoy being destructive about other peoples creative efforts and submit this only because I recognise that IMDb ratings may be helpful to future script-writers or directors considering similar movies.

Geez, another Lifetime movie, but once again isn't exactly the worst movie in the world, but far from the best. I think the main problem is that it's pretty obvious who is responsible for what, and it's generally fairly predictable. Worse yet, some of the flashbacks ended up being confusing, and the viewer is left wondering "Okay, how much am I supposed to care?" One thing I did like is that the movie goes to show you that it's never THAT simple as "the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad", and sometimes it IS evil vs evil rather than good vs evil. Hadley didn't do what she did out of a sense of justice, she did it because she considered herself entitled to a job for being family, AND to eliminate the competition. As for Alicia, it simply proves that a victim isn't always a good person. Some of them really do "have it coming", even if "it" was a painful, horrible death. "The Burning Bed" is a great example of this, but the difference is that the vile man in "The Burning Bed" got exactly what he deserved. But, did Alicia "have it coming"? Some will say that she did, but others don't agree, and the law generally doesn't either.

As for acting, it's a mixed bag. Some do a good job, like Mia, but others just came across as indifferent to their roles. They were mostly wooden or simply not convincing. The music was pretty cool though and some of the scenes are nice and steamy, especially if you like girl/girl action. The movie isn't badly shot at all, but given its glaring weaknesses, the strengths are in background, unfortunately.

I've heard rumors of a sequel, but given the years, I doubt it'll happen. But, I wouldn't be surprised if a sequel suddenly appeared. If Alicia is as EVIL, conniving and horrible as people say, then I don't think she'll be thinking, "YAY! I woke up from a coma! Oh, Hadley was responsible? Oh! That's okay! I totally forgive her and want the charges dropped!" No way Hadley would be in jail for long anyway, if she even does any time since no murder actually happened.

Anyway, worth checking out at least once!