Director: Karen Leigh Hopkins
Cast: Katie Holmes, Jean Smart, James Badge Dale, Callan Mulvey
Rating: 15
Running Time: 84 mins
Availability: Out now on DVD & Digital release

Karen Leigh Hopkins‘ MISS MEADOWS sees Katie Holmes play a secretive newcomer to a lower-middle-class neighbourhood whose bad people begin suffering deaths at the hands of a mysterious vigilante. The plot sounds intriguing and the screenplay is certainly one which is entertaining home-viewing for those in need of a simple distraction. 

We get our first glimpse of Mary Meadows (Holmes) in a Mary Poppins-esque manner as she happily walks down a leafy street without a care in the world – hardly the type of person you would expect to be the local residential vigilante. The audience starts to get a hint that she might not be what you expect as she remains unperturbed when a cantankerous man begins harassing her as he drives by. As the man pulls out his gun, rather unexpectedly so does Miss Meadows, but she does a lot more than simply aim her weapon at the man, she shuts him up permanently after firing the gun and continues to walk down the street as if nothing has happened – as you do. 

For a lady who enjoys gardening and knitting, she certainly does a good job at keeping her secret past time an underground activity, but this does not prevent her rather inquisitive neighbour Mrs. Davenport (Mary Kay Place) from sniffing around. Miss Meadows tries to blend into society in a normal way; she is the new substitute teacher at a local primary school, who has recently died from cancer. Mary proves rather a force to be reckoned with as she tries to lift the morale of the grieving students, contend with a rather difficult head teacher and surprisingly, the children begin to grow fond of their old-fashioned style teacher. In the midst of all of this, she also garners the attention of the local police officer  (James Badge Dale). Despite her extra-curricular activities which she indulges in, she rather surprisingly responds to his affections.

Unbeknown to the officer he and his department are on the trail of the vigilante and he becomes increasingly worried about his Mary’s possible involvement in these killings. Meanwhile, she has concerns of her own in the form of a new resident in the area – an eerie parolee called Skylar (Callan Mulvey), whom her love-come-officer identifies as a past child molester. With that bombshell, it is not difficult to guess the remainder of the story arc. At this point, the film tries to build itself up towards a thriller, but doesn’t create the tension required to be part of that particular genre and the rather happy ending fails to lend itself to the possibilities of what could have been.  

Perhaps if we had witnessed the wannabe vigilante mess up slightly and avenge a person who is actually innocent, that would have given Holmes something more gritty to stick her teeth into or if a more intriguing backstory had been developed about Mary and why she has become a vigilante, that would have been more palpable. The quick flashback does not quite suffice to the inevitable formative tragedy.

Holmes pulls off her character well, revealing her overly nice disposition sufficiently and is able to come across as a comical 1950s housewife perfectly.  

Overall, MISS MEADOWS provides the right mixture of black comedy, character interest and thriller elements in a film. It is a good movie to throw on and watch on a rainy Sunday afternoon to bring simple, entertaining viewing.

Verdict

MISS MEADOWS is out now to buy on DVD and on VOD.

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