I’ve watched a
lot of bad films in my time, and I can usually predict them before the opening
credits have even begun to roll. Knowing that Annalynne McCord (“90210”) was
the star of this film initiated immediate warning signs in my head, but I never
could have guessed how much she would dominate this film and how devastating
that poor casting decision would be to Scorned.
In all fairness, McCord is not the only one showing her shortcomings as an
actor. Not a single actor looks good by the end of the film, and much of that
is due to a remarkably asinine screenplay by Mark Jones & Sadie Katz, not
to mention the inept direction provided by Jones. Few bad films have so little
of worth in their content and production values in such equal proportion.
Although all
actors look bad saying these words under the direction of Jones, McCord is the
only one who appears to be delusional enough to think that she is doing a good
job. The rest of the actors either seem embarrassed to be participating or
simply grateful to be onscreen at all. McCord also comes off the worst because
she spends the most time onscreen, and this opportunity should be enough to
solidify “90210” as the height of quickly declining her career.
Playing mentally
unstable like a TV movie, McCord is jealous lover Sadie, who has just
discovered that her boyfriend (Billy Zane) is having an affair with her best
friend (Viva Blanca). Holding each of them captive during her romantic weekend
getaway, Sadie slowly tortures each of them with no visible endgame or purpose.
This pointless indulgence is only ended when an escaped convict suddenly enters
the storyline in the third act, for no apparent reason other than to help the
writers out of the corners they backed themselves into.
There are
endless reasons to hate this film, but I am going to end with my personal
favorite. Worse than the acting and the directing is the choice to have Sadie
repeatedly refer to herself as “a woman scorned” in the screenplay. It is
annoying enough when a screenwriter sloppily uses the title within the film’s
dialogue, but Scorned does it at
least three times in forced dialogue spoken by a painfully worthless actress.
Entertainment Value:
0/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 0/10
Historical
Significance: 0/10
Disc Features: 0/10
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