"The Wrong Student" was a painful film to watch. Even the film's background was depressing as the common history of the two soccer players, Amber and Maddie, was based on the tragic circumstances of parents who were killed in auto accidents, leaving the two girls orphans.
Amber has a contentious relationship with her aunt and guardian, Kelly Halligan. Amber resents what she perceives as a distant, uncaring aunt. For her part, Aunt Kelly was also distraught with the death of her brother and sister-in-law. With her niece in tow, Kelly has now moved from New York to a new location to start her own business and run away from the past.
By contrast, Maddie does not have a kind guardian, and has somehow found a way to live by herself in an apartment while completing high school. She evidently has no one in her life to care for her. As a result, she has fixated on the new soccer coach, Dominic Antal.
Maddie was far too sympathetic a character to be believable as a killer. And Dominic was so stupid that he was instantly drawn into her orbit. He should have recognized much sooner the threat posed by Maddie. Instead, he makes mistake after mistake in allowing her to wreak havoc on the lives of Coach Hendricks, the student Riley Jones, Aunt Kelly, and Amber.
The best part of the film was the bonding of the aunt and her daughter, which took place gradually over the course of the traumatic events incited by Maddie. It would have been a better film with the character of Maddie removed. In that way, we could have seen the heartfelt bonding of two people coming together in a shared expression of grief. Instead of "The Wrong Student," this film should have been "The Right Aunt."
