Woodyanders After popular high school student Ally Palmer (an appealing performance by the insanely foxy Hayden Panettiere) goes missing, nerdy history teacher Ronald Gibb (an excellent and engaging performance by Tim Daly) becomes the prime suspect concerning her disappearance because he was the last person seen with her. Director David Osky and writer Adam Targum ably wring plenty of painfully funny humor out of Gibb's pathetically lackluster lot in life. Moreover, Osky and Targum not only handle the potentially offensive premise of an older man lusting after a younger girl in a tasteful, yet still hilarious manner, but also derive a considerable amount of sly satiric mileage out of the hypocrisy of certain people in the town and the shameless opportunistic manner in which they attempt to capitalize on Ally's misfortune. The low-key quirky tone and brisk pace keep this picture on a steady course from start to finish. Daly does a fine job of making his sadsack loser character sympathetic; he receives ace support from William Sadler as Ally's slick car salesman father Phil, Paula Devicq as smitten neighbor Holly, Sarah Steele as the brash and meddlesome Amber, John Gallegher Jr. as Ally's dumb boyfriend Brett Mullen, Brian Anthony Wilson as the hard-nosed Detective Dick Moon, and Dan Hedaya as amiable janitor Gabe. Jordan Lynn's glossy cinematography provides an attractive bright look. Randy Lee's jaunty score hits the sprightly spot. A neat little sleeper.

Desertman84 The Good Student is a dark comedy drama starring Tim Daly and Hayden Panettiere.The story is about a high school teacher,who turns his life around after a student gets kidnapped.It was directed by David Ostry.An unpopular high school teacher finds himself the primary suspect in the case of a missing student when news gets out that he was the last person to see her.Mr. Gibb is reviled among the student body as quite possibly the worst teacher ever to stand at the head of the class. He's infatuated with Ally, a popular teen and local celebrity. When Ally suddenly goes missing, the entire suburban town descends into panic. Could Mr. Gibb have something to do with her disappearance? When a police investigation reveals that Mr. Gibb gave Ally a ride home mere moments before she vanished without a trace, the teacher who was universally despised discovers that his troubles have only just begun.The could have been interesting but unfortunately,it leaves the viewer wanting for more.The drama was not interesting and the comedy falls flat.Also,the characters in the film are hardly understood especially Mr.Gibb's fascination towards Ally.Why?Just because she is good looking doesn't explain everything.The only thing going for it is the presence of Hayden Panettiere,who is very pretty; and it will keep you guessing until the very end.

Jessi Cyrus I watched this movie on t.v. and I really liked it, so much as to try to find a website where I could rewatch it for free. I like Hayden Panettiere and thought she acted well in this movie. The movie surprised me twice. Once when Ally seemed friendly to her teacher and not creeped out by him, and again when he held her hostage but didn't do anything, then talked back to Ally's dad. I think it's kind of a weird and unusual movie, and those are exactly the kind of movies that I like. They aren't the same layout as other "cookiecutter" films. I tend to gravitate towards movies that contain certain characters, and Ally and her teacher were two of those types of characters (cool teenage girl) (odd eccentric guy) that I like to see in movies. I think The Good Student is a movie that can answer someone's "what ifs" about what if a teacher held one of their students hostage, but he decided to be nice and not hurt her and let her go?

mohamed_nashaat let's get the good stuff out of the way first...the story line and the writing both are amazing... in the hands of a more capable director, this movie could've been an excellent movie.the story has all the elements that could attract a viewer, from the good building of the problem, the attraction, the deliberate misguiding to the twists at the end. (but no comedy whatsoever)..but it was really really really bad directed, and you can notice that from the very first shot of the film. a summer trained director trying his luck, and thinking that having a star like Hayden Panettiere can sell the movie - which i don't know why she agreed to do the movie in the first place?? being that she's totally in her prime...there are some characters in the movie that were in it only for the purpose of the felling of an empty 5 minutes or something, there are characters that appeared in the beginning of the movie, and it was set in my mind that this character will play an important rule in the story line, but suddenly i didn't see that character again!!!!overall, it was below medium, and really what a sham, it could've been something really good.my vote is 3 out of 10