I had the tube flipped on when this one came on a local station on Saturday afternoon. Should have known that it would be a flop to be running in a graveyard time spot like that. Since I was tired out from Friday night, I sat back and took it.
I'm sorry to see a promising actress like Stephanie Zimbalist doing crap like this. Women's prison movies are often the bottom of a career, as shown by Linda Blair (Chained Heat) and more recently by Catherine Oxenberg (Time Served).
Most flicks in this genre generate sympathy for the main character, but not so here. In this one I felt no sympathy for Zimbalist's vain character who believed that no jury would say that she did wrong by her misuse of her company's money. If she was stupid enough to believe that a turn down the virtual slap on the wrist deal she was offered, then IMHO she deserved to get sent up the river and have Big Bertha breathing down her back. I expected to see some scenes where the typical down and dirty women cons told her to stop her high and mighty act as "rich bitch" or "white collar criminal." Ashley Judd got that "rich bitch" lecture in the first prison scene of Double Jeopardy.
This movie degenerated into a suitable for TV version of the typical "babes behind bars" fare, with shoulder level shower scenes, before and after sex scenes, and the poorly delivered riot scene. The ending, though typical of this genre, did not deliver due to the lack of sympathy for the main character, even after she had taken her lumps and exposed all the corruption.
I do hope Stephanie Zimbalist can put her career back on track after this dud.
