SPOILERS THROUGHOUT:

Say the words: lifetime movie and a lot of people roll their eyes. Say the name Elizabeth Berkely and many think "Showgirls". Worse, take a name like "student seduction" which has to be one of the worst movie titles I've ever heard-(and I've heard a lot), and the pieces don't sound as if they add up to a lot. Yet this movie, while not great, was decent enough for me to give it an above average rating and it really could have been a 7 or 8(I think) if some things that went on hadn't been so muddled. But I really did think this movie wasn't half bad.

Most know the plot-a female teacher gets accused of making sexual overtures toward one of her students even though it was the other way around. Nobody seems to believe her-even her attorney and husband at times seem doubtful. So of coarse the movie deals with the teacher's attempts to bring about the truth.

Typical lifetime? Maybe. All I know is the movie had some pluses, number one being the performance by Berkely herself. She was good. Very much so. She actually made me forget she was in a thing called Showgirls and no matter what the quality of a movie, if a performer is good, they should be given kudos. Berkely is not only good but excellent and I am glad she was cast in this role. It was really an interesting movie because it is thought provoking and more then a little scary. I did enjoy it.

Cheesy title or not, I would have given this a much higher rating but for a few things. While the movie was relatively well written and the performances extremely good, there was a lot of things that were frustrating. A lot goes on behind the scenes and the movie never ever really explains why so many become convinced the teacher is actually the guilty party. Id have liked to see WHY everyone thought she did it. It was very muddled the way it was done, and comes off as rather contrived because instead of seeing events unfold in a believable way, we see person after person, start looking at the teacher with suspicion. So of coarse a lot of the time is spent in frustration at all the people who seem to be obsessed with pinning it all on the teacher. Yet without being presented with clear reasons- (WHY did the cops look at her with suspicion almost from the beginning?) it almost becomes annoying rather then intriguing.

Berkely however, is so good, and the premise so interesting it does make you want to watch till the end. I think 6 is the perfect rating. This isn't great but it is an interesting, well acted television movie that maybe at least worth a look if the subject matter interests you or if you are a fan of Berkely or television movies.

It fills in a familiar template at LMN. Elizabeth Berkley is a friendly and happily married chemistry teacher at a fancy high school. She loves her job and her students, bringing the class small presents and volunteering to tutor students like handsome Corey Sevier who are lagging behind.

The problem is that Sevier has more on his mind than just ionic bonding. He begins to put moves on her that she firmly rejects. Sevier is a persistent kid, though, and used to getting his way with girls. Accordingly he winds up assaulting her when she's home alone. She goes to the police.

Need we spell the rest out? Hell itself is visited upon the victim. The good-looking and charming Sevier claims that SHE accosted HIM and invited her to her home and encouraged his advances. The police believe him, not her. They Mirandize her, cuff her, and force her to do the perp walk down the school's hallways. She's suspended from her job.

Not only do the police not believe her. Her principal has doubts too. Her LAWYER's belief in her innocence is limited in its depth. Her husband is wary, lacking in understanding, and offers ineffective support.

Throughout the ordeal, Elizabeth Berkley is staunch and resolute, even as her social world collapses around her. Even as she's referred to repeatedly as a "sexual predator" along the lines of some other famous teachers who couldn't keep their hands off their students.

First off, I don't want to hear of any more boys being named Corey. Or any girls named Jillian or Gillian either. I'm sick of it. Then, too, let us drop the use of the word "predator." Let's reserve it for lions and tigers. Not bears, though, because bears are omnivores like humans. While it's true that bears love to catch and eat salmon, given half a chance, they're too fond of blackberries to be predators.

Second, we see Corey Sevier's family "doing PR" against Berkley. They give their story to the press, hire great lawyers, and appear on a TV show like Oprah. Berkley, who is now pregnant to add to the general sense of distress, nurses her grievances in private. Well, this is pretty hypocritical. The movie condemns people for watching a talk show on which guests discuss their travails, while at the same time this very movie is nothing more than a dramatization of such a tale.

Third, there's nothing wrong with gossip per se. It's a valuable tool of social control and it contributes the community's shared data base. It only becomes destructive when its course is changed or when there is too much of it. In that sense it's like water. We need it. But we need it a glass at a time, or a bath tub at a time. We don't need a flood of it.

Right now, in my opinion, there is far too much of it, a raging torrent of it. It sloshes out of our television every day. It fills the magazine racks at supermarket check out counters. Will Jenny Dump Brad? Angie's Dirty Little Secret! It has bled into our political process. Some years ago, Admiral Bobby Inman, a decent and thoughtful man, was offered appointment to a high office in the executive branch but turned it down because he felt the confirmation process had become undignified -- and it has. A nominee for an appointment might be a fan of the San Francisco 49ers. Well, we all know that San Francisco is a hot bed of inversion. Okay. Tell us, General, have you ever had a homosexual experience? The whole culture is crippled by its tabloid sensibility. The end of our civilization may be at hand.

So why did I bother watching this passion play? I wanted to see if I might be wrong.