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Rating:  - Cameron-Bure Does it Again!
()Okay, first off, this isn't Helen. This is her granddaughter. I watched the movie, "No One Would Tell" in my science class when we were learning about teenage relationships. My teacher, Mr. Taylor, somehow taped this film for us to watch.
()Most people in my class were pretty surprised to see Candace Cameron Bure in the movie. Then, we saw Fred Savage. The boy who sat next to me in class said, "Hey, it's Cory from 'Boy Meets World'!" I wrote something on a piece of paper and handed it to him. It said, "No. That's Kevin from 'The Wonder Years'." He looked at me and nodded like he understood.
()Stacy Collins [Cameron-Bure] goes head-over-heels when hot high school wrestler Bobby Tennison [Savage] asks her out. But things turn deadly for Stacy when she becomes his target. In other words, Bobby abuses her. If I was in the movie, I would totally stood up for Stacy and call the cops on Bobby. He even hits her at the dance in front of everyone! I couldn't believe it.
()I don't want to ruin the whole movie for people who haven't seen it and wants to see it, but Stacy turns up missing later on in the film. Or is she really missing???? Watch the movie!
()Candace Cameron Bure is a terrfic actress and I'm glad she was cast in this movie. It will show everyone what the abusive world is like in a teenager's eyes! Trust me. Watch "No One Would Tell." You won't regret it!
Rating: - "If I can't have her, no one's gonna...."
Is this truly the type of rationale that some people use in the face of evil? It's unimaginable without a doubt, but it's also a painstaking reality that, unfortunately, has not yet vanished from society. I stumbled across this movie by accident when it aired recently on Lifetime, and I was propelled to watch as soon as I saw that popular "Full House" alum Candace Cameron was in the starring role.
Anyone who was a "child of the 80's" will instantly recognize Candace Cameron and Fred Savage from "Full House" and "The Wonder Years." Placing them together in one movie proved very effective (although many of you will probably be hard pressed to buy teen sweetheart Fred Savage as a coldblooded villain), and few can deny that this is a story that deserves to remain out there.
Based on a true story (which should come as a surprise to no one, haha), "No One Would Tell" follows a 5-month romance between two high school students. Sweet, insecure Stacy Collins is thrilled when Bobby Tennison, the school's handsome and smooth-talking star wrestler, takes an interest in her. Everything is a whirlwind from there, and he grabs her from the very beginning. With long-stemmed roses, fancy gifts, winks and smiles up and down the hallway, it appears to be a fairytale relationship, but it doesn't take long at all for Bobby's controlling behavior to surface, and he starts smacking her around. His influence over those mere five months drives Stacy further and further from her other friendships and academics, transforming her into a weak victim, but when those who are closest to her can't find it in them to do anything, it flares into a worst-case scanario where Stacy can no longer be helped. From there, it becomes a gritty, heart-wrenching battle for all the people in Stacy's life to give her the only thing they have left to offer: an honest tongue and a brave step forward.
Lifetime TV is renowned for airing movies that include a heavy sprinkling of eerie melodrama, but setting that aside for a bit, what makes this story so effective is how it applies to our world. As frightening as this plot is (beware a semi-graphic scene toward the end), it is perhaps even more saddening. The character of Stacy Collins is a classic portrait of a teenage girl who had lots of friends, a vibrant personality, and a particular presence that made her popular among many in high school. She had her own set of problems, but in general she was happy and had people who cared for her. But she was very quick to tap into the youthful excitement of having a super-cute and popular boyfriend, and when push came to shove she was not strong enough to stand up against his terrifying abuse. It is a frightening story because there are real girls--young girls--who experience the exact same thing every day. It also happens to be such a sad story because this was a girl who loved this guy and was so excited about being with him, but in the end she could do nothing to please him, not through any fault of her own but through his own insanity that nobody was able to save her from.
Some girls survive these things, and others do not. Watching this movie actually reminded me a lot of the recent Laci Peterson case. The deception, the lies, the mysterious disappearance...it's scary stuff. It may seem melodramatic, but it really is not when you think about how much this truly does exist in real life. Lifetime movies are all too famous for being overacted and drastic, which makes me shy away from most films on this channel, but this is one subject where it is necessary for the characters to be overdone, because this is just what happens when people--often naive teenage kids--step into a dangerous relationship and let it become too serious too quickly. Movies like this are important to make, and perhaps those who watch them can take a lesson on not just doing everything possible to avoid the unthinkable that possessed Fred Savage's character, but also remembering the vital importance of breaking the silence when such situations come up with friends, family, and even just mere acquaintances. It's a movie that opens up countless windows for discussion, because there are clearly so many ways that the ending to this particular story could have been prevented. Stacy, her friends, classmates and family all made decisions that subconsciously contributed to the end result, and it's important to talk about how we can take a stand when we see this in real life. The very worst can happen, and sadly it is not at all overdone in this film; it is the exact downfall that any girl can experience if they are not mindful.
Cameron and Savage do a surprisingly effective job in their roles. As I said before, Savage's well-known run on the lighthearted coming-of-age series "The Wonder Years" makes it hard to see him as a bad guy, but you can tell he worked hard with this and was able to establish a sense of on-screen evil with those cold eyes and that in-your-face violence. At the end of the movie, I was convinced--and unless you're a hard-core "Wonder Years" fan who has seen each episode about twenty times, you'll probably be convinced, too. Cameron also delivers quite nicely as the naive, battered teenager who has a hard time letting go and an even harder time protecting herself from the worst when it counts most. Her sweet and innocent character carries over from her role as DJ Tanner on "Full House," but with this movie she shows that she is able to take the emotion and drama to a new level. I also have to give props to Heather McComb, who played Stacy's best friend Nicky. That right there is an actress who knows how to sob from her gut in front of the camera! I was really impressed with her work. The entire cast does well with the plot and invest enough in these characters to convey the message--which just happens to be a really important one. Too melodramatic, you say? Not in the slightest--there are hundreds of adolescent girls in the world who are going through this right now. The last few lines of the movie say it best: "You have a responsibility to the people you care about. If you see them hurting or you see them in trouble, you step in and you TELL someone, so that this does not happen again."
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