X
- TV-14
- Lifetime
- TV-14
- Lifetime
Summary Caroline (Penelope Ann Miller) and Bethany (Mia Kirshner) are two wealthy mothers who buy their children's way into prestigious universities with the help of Rick Singer (Michael Shanks) in this TV movie inspired by Operation Varsity Blues.
- TV-14
- Lifetime
- TV-14
- Lifetime
The College Admissions Scandal
Season 1 Premiere: Oct 12, 2019
57
User Score
Available after 4 ratings
tbd
Summary Caroline (Penelope Ann Miller) and Bethany (Mia Kirshner) are two wealthy mothers who buy their children's way into prestigious universities with the help of Rick Singer (Michael Shanks) in this TV movie inspired by Operation Varsity Blues.
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 7 Critic Reviews
57
29% Positive
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
57% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
14% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 7 Critic Reviews
57
29% Positive
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
57% Mixed
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
14% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
The crimes described here seem heinous because they subvert the founding myths of meritocracy, and this Lifetime movie—with its strokes of low-brow expressionism, its inadvertently funny production values, its clever lead performances—converts the news story into an exhilarating nightmare. You hate these parents and you feel for them, and each feeling intensifies the other.
The dialogue is clunky and cliched. ... What saves The College Admission Scandal from total camp is Miller, who really rings true as a mom who loves her son and is deeply ashamed about what she’s done. Kirshner goes big as the woman who, instead, doesn’t understand the consequences. She’s right out of a primetime soap, but Kirshner keeps her grounded.
The College Admissions Scandal is the kind of modest, quick-turnaround effort that won't win any prizes; still, in terms of shining a light on that part of the story, it scores a passing grade the old-fashioned way: By earning it.
To its credit, The College Admissions Scandal doesn’t wrap things up in anything even remotely resembling a happy ending. Families are torn apart, and prison is looming. It plays like an after-school special of a cautionary tale (for the .001% who have six figures to toss around on fake test scores), but it’s still hard to muster up sympathy for even these destroyed characters at the end.
Not bad but not subtle either, this is a broadly told story of overprivileged parents and their wounded offspring. You already know the sorry outcome.
Flat yet watchable. ... It's less an oily TV movie than an afterschool special for adults. You won't learn anything knew, but you may delight in witnessing a few insecure idiots get flushed down the toilet.
It’s essentially a regurgitation of the scandal’s basic talking points, letting the outlandishness play at face value. It’s not trashy or seedy, or even that campy in any way. ... It’s about as good as you might expect a film to be when it premieres seven months to the day after the events it is based on took place.
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Production Company:
- Varsity Films
Initial Release Date: Oct 12, 2019
Number of seasons: 0 Seasons
Rating: TV-14
Genres:
Awards
Leo Awards
• 2 Nominations
Canadian Cinema Editors Awards
• 1 Nomination