Taglines: She doesn’t well with others.
In Miss Meadows, Katie Holmes plays a sweet and proper elementary school teacher whose perfect manners and pretty floral dresses hide a dark secret: when she’s not teaching at the local elementary school or tending to her garden, she’s moonlighting as a gun-toting vigilante.
Miss Meadows is an American drama film written and directed by Karen Leigh Hopkins. The film stars Katie Holmes, James Badge Dale, Callan Mulvey and Stephen Bishop. The film is scheduled to be released theatrically in the United States on November 14, 2014, by Entertainment One Films.
Prim schoolteacher Miss Meadows (Katie Holmes) is not entirely what she appears. Well-mannered, sweet, and caring, yes, but underneath the candy-sweet exterior hides the soul of a vigilante, taking it upon herself to right the wrongs in this cruel world by whatever means necessary. Things get complicated, however, when Miss Meadows gets romantically entangled with the town sheriff (James Badge Dale) and her steadfast moral compass is thrown off, begging the question: “Who is the real Miss Meadows and what is she hiding?”
Review
A Pulp Fiction Mary Poppins? That’s the high-concept hook behind Katie Holmes’s newest star vehicle, Miss Meadows, in which she plays a primly-dressed, practically perfect small-town schoolteacher who says sugary things like “toodle-loo” without a trace of irony. But beneath all that sweetness lies a curdled view of the world, one that compels her to lay down her vengeance upon miscreants and malcontents with the petite pistol she keeps hidden in her purse.
Looks like Miss Meadows might benefit from having Harvey Keitel’s Wolf in her life to help her clean up her messes, though. The town’s sheriff (James Badge Dale) has little trouble connecting her to the wave of shootings happening on his watch. But he also doesn’t seem all that eager to lock this pretty, popular teacher in the slammer — particularly when there’s a new killer (Callan Mulvey) skulking around town.
An earlier, darker teaser for Miss Meadows hit the web back in August, but this second trailer indicates a strong streak of wicked humor along with the Pulp-y violence. It also emphasizes that the movie is a major departure for Holmes, still best remembered as the Dawson’s Creek good girl. “She’s a revelation in the movie,” Miss Meadows director Karen Leigh Hopkins remarked on the red carpet of the film’s Tribeca Film Festival premiere last April. “She…took the America’s sweetheart role that she also plays and brought an intellect and a fierceness…. She’s the excruciatingly correct [side of] Miss Meadows and also the real surprise, sexy [side].”
At a post-screening Q&A, Holmes herself said that she had a blast playing the character. “I liked the juxtaposition of her manners and her actions. And I liked her spirit, because she was delightful and believed in what she was doing and had integrity in her mind. I’m a fan of strong women and seeing them onscreen.” For the sequel, we’re rooting for a Miss Meadows/Jackie Brown team-up. In the meantime.
Miss Meadows
Directed by: Karen Leigh Hopkins
Starring: Katie Holmes, James Badge Dale, Callan Mulvey, Stephen Bishop, Ava Kolker, Charlotte Labadie, Elle Labadie, Kate Linder
Screenplay by: Karen Leigh Hopkins
Production Design by: Jennifer Klide
Cinematography by: Barry Markowitz
Film Editing by: Joan Sobel
Costume Design by: Brenda Abbandandolo
Set Decoration by: Carmen Navis
Music by: Jeff Cardoni
MPAA Rating: None.
Studio: Entertainment One
Release Date: November 14, 2014