Miss Meadows
| Miss Meadows | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Karen Leigh Hopkins |
| Produced by |
Eric Brenner Rob Carliner |
| Written by | Karen Leigh Hopkins |
| Starring |
Katie Holmes James Badge Dale Callan Mulvey Stephen Bishop |
| Music by | Jeff Cardoni |
| Cinematography | Barry Markowitz |
| Edited by | Joan Sobel |
Production company |
Myriad Pictures Rob Carliner Films |
| Distributed by | Entertainment One Films |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 88 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Miss Meadows is a 2014 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 was released theatrically in the United States on November 14, 2014, by Entertainment One Films.
Plot
Miss Mary Meadows is a young woman who works as a substitute first-grade elementary school teacher and enjoys taking long walks in her suburban neighborhood and wearing traditional clothing and tap-dancing shoes. Unknown to everyone, she is a secret vigilante who murders local thugs who accost her or when she witnesses them committing crimes. She always carries a small semi-automatic pistol in her purse as well as talks and speaks in a child-like innocent manner. She lives by herself in a small house and talks occasionally with her mother over the telephone about what she did during the day.
Investigating the vigilante killings is a local sheriff who is never named. He soon meets and develops an attraction to Miss Meadows due to her old-fashion clothing and style of talk. When he begins to suspect that the calmly woman he finds himself drawn to may be the suspect he is looking for, the sheriff is torn over whether to arrest her or protect her.
When Miss Meadows meets an ex-convict named Skylar, whom she learns served time for molesting young children, she begins fear for her young students safety. When Miss Meadows approaches and threatens to kill Skylar if he continues hanging around the school or around her kids, he begins stalking her.
It is eventually revealed that all of the telephone conversations that Miss Meadows has been having with her mother over the course of the film are imaginary. As a young girl, Mary Meadows witnessed her mother's murder in a drive-by shooting outside a local church after attending the wedding of a family friend. This traumatic incident left Miss Meadows so emotionally scarred that she withdrew into a fantasy world which she imagined that her mother is still alive and caused her to go after and kill criminals who she sees as a threat to society.
When Miss Meadows learns that she is pregnant after a one-time sexual encounter with the sheriff, she decides to accept his proposal to get married. On the day of the wedding, Skylar kidnaps Heather, one of Miss Meadows students, from her house, forcing Miss Meadows to go to Skylar's house (wearing her wedding dress) to try to stop him, only to end up a captive herself. When she manages to free Heather and struggle with Skylar over her gun, the sheriff, passing by after leaving the church and sees Heather running away from Skylar's house. Meanwhile Skyler gets Miss Meadows's gun and he asks her "Do you really think you can save the world? well try saving your self!" Just after saying that the sheriff arrives and shoots Skylar to death before he can kill Miss Meadows. The sheriff offers to protect Miss Meadows by reporting that Skylar was the vigilante.
In the final scenes, set one year later, Miss Meadows is now married to the sheriff who has quit the police force and is now a professional accordion player. They appear happy and have a baby son to raise. However, Miss Meadows still dresses and speaks in an old-fashion way and takes a walk to the supermarket to buy groceries for dinner while tap dancing down the sidewalk. It is left ambiguous whether or not Miss Meadows will continue her vigilante killing spree.
Cast
- Katie Holmes as Miss Mary Meadows
- James Badge Dale as Sheriff
- Callan Mulvey as Skylar
- Stephen Bishop as Lt. Danny
- Tyler Corbet as Gordon
- Gregory Allen Smith as Willie
- Saidah Arrika Ekulona as Doctor
- Milly Hopkins as Sarah
- James Landry Hébert as Derek Weaver
- Ava Kolker as Heather
- Charlotte Labadie as Violet
- Elle Labadie as Rose
- Kate Linder as Trudy Navis
- Anna Moravcik as Little Miss Meadows
- Mary Kay Place as Mrs. Davenport
- Jean Smart as Mother Meadows
- Aubree Stone as Little Girl Maggie
- Harry Zinn as Minister
Production
Principal photography and production began on August 6, 2013, in Cleveland, Ohio.[2]
Release
The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 21, 2014.[3] The film was released theatrically in the United States on November 14, 2014, by Entertainment One Films.[4]
Reception
Miss Meadows received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 24%, based on 17 reviews, with an average rating of 4.5/10.[5] On Metacritic, the film has a rating of 43 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[6] It holds a score of 5.7 on IMDb.
References
- ↑ "Miss Meadows: Tribeca Review". The Hollywood Reporter. 2014-04-23. Retrieved 2014-08-20.
- ↑ "Katie Holmes in Cleveland to shoot new movie: 'Miss Meadows' here through end of August". cleveland.com. Retrieved 2014-08-20.
- ↑ "Miss Meadows | 2014 Tribeca Film Festival". Tribecafilm.com. Retrieved 2014-08-20.
- ↑ "Katie Holmes Goes Vigilante in the Trailer for Miss Meadows". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved 2014-08-20.
- ↑ "Miss Meadows". Rotten Tomatoes. 7 November 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
- ↑ "Miss Meadows Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 8 November 2014.