Cheaters (2000) (TV)

Director:

John Stockwell

Writer (WGA):

John Stockwell (written by)

Release Date:

20 May 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Putting The System To The Test

Plot:

Eleven students conspire with their teacher to cheat on an academic competition.

Plot Keywords:

Teacher | Cheating | Competition | Chicago Illinois | Motivation

Awards:

Nominated for Primetime Emmy. Another 3 nominations

Cast

Jeff Daniels	...	Dr. Gerard Plecki
Jena Malone	...	Jolie Fitch
Paul Sorvino	...	Constantine Kiamos
Luke Edwards	...	Darius Bettus
Blake Heron	...	Matt Kur
Dov Tiefenbach	...	Irwin Flickas
Dan Warry-Smith	...	Paul Kurgan
Anna Raj	...	Agnieska Maryniarczyk
Dominik Podbielski	...	Dominik Wesolowski
Ned Eisenberg	...	Robert Clifford
Robert Joy	...	Larry Minkoff
Lenka Peterson	...	Mrs. Plecki
Alex Poch-Goldin	...	Jerry Marconi (as Alex Poch Goldin)
Karen Glave	...	Corrine Davis
Marcia Bennett	...	Joan Isenberg

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:L | USA:R | Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Central Tech. High School, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company:

De Passe Entertainment

Trivia:

Director John Stockwell and the film's producers hired a private investigator to track down the real Dr. Gerald Plecki. It took nearly half a year to convince Plecki to sell his rights and become involved in the production.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Dr. Plecki and the students are watching "Stand and Deliver" at his house, the scenes from that movie are shown out of order in "Cheaters".

Quotes:

Irwin Flickas: It was a multiple choice test. Nobody told me you could only pick one answer!

Movie Connections:

Features Stand and Deliver (1988)

"Isn't Cheating Wrong?"

What I absolutely loved about this movie is the fact that it displays a genuine moral dilemma without necessarily preaching anything. It doesn't provide viewers a standpoint for moral ascendancy, instead, the viewers get the pleasure of interpreting the situation, thus gaining that threshold for ascendancy.

I'd say the film did play out a bias, and the bias was in favor of the students from Steimetz High. I'd say that it is rather a fair bias, because it is rare to see the cheaters as the protagonist. Amidst this, they weren't portrayed as the over-glamorized heroes that will promote a cheating society. What John Stockwell did was to give us a dose of reality, an arena for sympathize with cheaters, at the same time, displaying the consequences of the human act.

I love the mixture of documentary footages. Opening Credits was awesome, wherein there were raw footage in grainy stock of actual American high school. It played greatly on the emotional framework that the film worked on and I'm so glad my parents were able to find a copy of the film on DVD.