Review of Tanner Hall (2011) by Thomas W — 14 Dec 2011

Pretty, posh, privileged princess is jealous of another pretty, posh, privileged princess at a New England boarding school circa a time before cellphones in Tanner Hall (a film written/directed by pretty, posh, privileged Tatiana von Furstenberg [Diane's daughter]).

While the film isn't a disaster, it isn't overly memorable either and if one wants to watch a movie about posh princesses at boarding schools I'd recommend the far superior 2011 release Cracks (starring Casino Royale's Eva Greene and star-on-the-rise Juno Temple).

The characters in this film are all one-dimensional and made me think of a book of paper dolls. They all fit a stereotype and none of them stray from that mold -- they are all open-books (the narration of the film doesn't help, either).

The only reason to see (and remember) this film is that it will be noted as "early work" of Rooney Mara (soon-to-be MEGAstar of the American remake of Girl with a Dragon Tattoo, The Social Network, Youth in Revolt), who does a fine job here and is notably better than this material (think Anna Kendrick in Twilight).

The story if fairly simple and standard stuff -- Mara's Fernanda's life at school is forever changed with the arrival of somewhat bitter and jealous former childhood friend, Victoria (Georgia King - One Day, The Duchess, Chalet Girl), who has a vacant, loveless drunk-of-a-despicable-mother (who has made Victoria the way that she is .

.. duh). The writing and dialogue of Tanner Hall feels unpolished and juvenile (as if it were written by a group of girls who use "like, like" like [!] all the time) and the situations all play out EXACTLY as one would expect them too.

Fernanda would be the film's moral center and goodie-goodie if she didn't persue a relationship with a married friend-of-the-family (Tom Everett Scott -- That Thing You Do, One True Thing, Because I Said So) that felt very out-of-character (I think the writers did this to try to add dimension to at least one character).

An odd side-story (making the film very awkward at times) featured two of the boarding school's married teachers played by SNL alums Amy Sedaris and Chris Kattan -- I don't know if their scenes were supposed to be funny or tragic.

And that sums up the film ... "what am I supposed to think about this?" Tanner Hall DOES do a very nice job of tidying up loose ends but a lot of those loose ends were unimportant to begin with.

Mara IS the only reason to see this; but it is still somewhat of a waste of time ... again, see Cracks (a film I found to be surprisingly solid).