Plot

The story of a girl who is willing to do anything to become Valedictorian, even if it means murdering the teacher that stands in her way.

Leigh Ann Watson (Katie Holmes) is salutatorian when she needs to be valedictorian to get her scholarship to Harvard. The only class she is worse than the leader in is history, taught by Mrs. Tingle (Dame Helen Mirren), and the teacher hates her. When an attempt to get ahead in Mrs. Tingle's class goes awry, mayhem ensues and friendships, loyalties, and trust are tested by the teacher's intricate mind-games.—<fichaud2000@hotmail.com>

The naive, but very bright, Leigh Ann Watson (Katie Holmes) is a senior who is one point from being her class valedictorian and from getting a scholarship to Harvard. That one thing in her way is her sly History teacher, Mrs. Eve Tingle (Dame Helen Mirren). Mrs. Tingle is the teacher of a cutthroat class, in which Leigh Ann is getting a "C". The school's outcast, Luke Churner (Barry Watson), snatches Tingle's upcoming test answers and delivers them to Leigh Ann. Mrs. Tingle finds them in Leigh Ann's bag and reports it to the Principal, who, luckily, was not present. That night, Leigh Ann; her friend, Jo Lynn Jordan (Marisa Coughlan); and Luke visit Mrs. Tingle's house to reason and confront her. The conversation ends in a deadly accident. Leigh Ann and her friends clean up the place and carry Mrs. Tingle's unconscious body to her bed and tie her up. She wakes up and the three students try and compromise, but does Mrs. Tingle just want to loosen them up before her own attack?—Film_Boy1495

All her life, Leigh Ann Watson (Katie Holmes) has done the right things. But when she doesn't get an "A" in her history class, which will make her Valedictorian, she immediately blames Mrs. Eve Tingle (Dame Helen Mirren). Mrs. Tingle is the cruelest teacher in all of Grandsboro High. While Leigh Ann and her friends Luke Churner (Barry Watson) and Jo Lynn Jordan (Marisa Coughlan) are in the gym, Luke pulls out Tingle's final test, off of which to cheat. Leigh Ann is about to give it back when Mrs. Tingle walks in. She threatens to report Leigh Ann when the Principal returns back to school the next day. Unfortunately, Leigh Ann is not going to let this happen and shows up with her friends by her side to confront Mrs. Tingle. It's not possible, so just when things couldn't get worse, they drag her upstairs and tie her to her bed. Now, they have forty-eight hours to get Mrs. Tingle to compromise. But, will Mrs. Tingle give in or have a little fun first?—Kyle <Kyleshivers@aol.com>

Leigh Ann Watson (Katie Holmes) is a teenage student at Grandsboro High. An "A" in history would make her valedictorian and get her a scholarship to Harvard. When she turns in her history project, a three hundred sixty-five day diary of a girl accused in the Salem witch trials (a six month effort), she receives a "C" from history teacher Mrs. Eve Tingle (Dame Helen Mirren), the meanest teacher at Grandsboro High. This gives an opportunity for Trudie Tucker (Liz Stauber), a rival student, to achieve an "A" and become valedictorian. As Leigh Ann tries to catch up doing extra credit by setting up graduation seating with her best friend, Jo Lynn Jordan (Marisa Coughlan), history class failure Luke Churner (Barry Watson) enters with Mrs. Tingle's final exam cheat sheet. Leigh Ann is caught with it and Mrs. Tingle threatens to tell the Principal about it. The result would have been expulsion, so the trio of teenagers attempt to regain Leigh Ann's innocence by reasoning with Mrs. Tingle. When their attempt fails, they attack Mrs. Tingle and tie her to her bed. Is there a possible way to prove Leigh Ann innocent?—William <teachingtingle@hotmail.com>

Leigh Ann (Katie Holmes) is a high school student who wants to achieve top grades to become valedictorian. However, her grade in History class is threatened by her sadistic teacher, Mrs. Tingle (Helen Mirren). Mrs. Tingle has a special dislike for Leigh Ann and down-grades Leigh Ann's well-designed project. The teacher also stumbles upon Leigh Ann with the final exam, which had been stolen and planted in Leigh Ann's backpack without her consent, and threatens to have her expelled for it.

Leigh Ann and her two friends, Luke (Barry Watson) and Jo Lynn (Marisa Coughlan), head to Mrs. Tingle's house that night and try to convince the teacher that Leigh Ann is innocent. Mrs. Tingle, however, does not listen. A physical struggle ensues and Mrs. Tingle is accidentally knocked unconscious. The students panic and tie Mrs. Tingle to her bed. Pretending to be Mrs. Tingle, Jo Lynn calls the school the next morning and feigns illness in order to buy themselves some time, but all are unsure of what they should do next. Mrs. Tingle eventually reveals that she hates Leigh Ann because Leigh Ann has the potential to leave their small town and experience life something Mrs. Tingle never got a chance to do but her honesty only furthers her captors' dislike of her. She also opines that Leigh Ann does not have the guts to do anything that will get her in trouble; in response, an angry and infuriated Leigh Ann kisses Luke and has sex with him on Mrs Tingle's couch.

The next day at school, Jo Lynn ignores Leigh Ann because she had a crush a crush Leigh Ann had been aware of. A regretful Leigh Ann tries to make amends with Jo Lynn, but an admission that she'd had sex with Luke further infuriates Jo Lynn.

Leigh Ann, Luke, and Jo Lynn decide to blackmail Mrs. Tingle by producing photographic evidence of her love affair with the school's gym teacher. Before they can enact their plot, however, Mrs. Tingle escapes from her bonds. After a fight at the top of the staircase, she seemingly falls to her death but then quickly recovers, scrambles to her feet, and picks up a crossbow. She fires it wildly, trying to hit Leigh Ann. Trudie Tucker (Liz Stauber) walks through the door, gets hit in the chest by the bolt, and appears to be dead just as Principal Potter (Michael McKean) arrives to check up on Mrs. Tingle. Leigh Ann forces Mrs. Tingle to tell everything that happened with her that she wanted Leigh Ann to fail, that she shot Trudie with the arrow, among other things. However, Trudie was protected by a thick textbook she was holding at her chest and was completely unharmed. Mrs. Tingle is fired, and the final scene of the film shows Leigh Ann being named valedictorian.