MY TEACHER, MY OBSESSION

Rusty Joiner ignites his student's interest

MY TEACHER, MY OBSESSION (aka Dad Crush/2018 telefilm). Director: Damian Romay.  

Single dad and high school English teacher Chris (Rusty Joiner) moves with his daughter, Riley (Laura Bilgeri), to a new community where she meets a sullen classmate named Kyla (Lucy Loken). Kyla warns her new friend that mean girl Tricia (Alexandria DeBerry) has got a big crush on her father, and doesn't want her becoming friends with her. But Kyla has also noticed how "hot" the new teach is, and she is rather put out when he starts dating her mother (Jana Lee Hamblin). Kyla determines to change this appalling situation any way she can, and get her hooks into hunky Chris come Hell or high water. 

Chris confronts his daughter

Movies like My Teacher, My Obsession can be a lot of trashy fun, they can be handled with some adult sophistication, or they can be neither, which is the case with this bit of treacle. My Teacher is modestly absorbing but it never develops into anything that entertaining or trenchant. The performances are adequate, and even good at times, although some of the cast members could have shown more emotion at certain points given the circumstances. Kyla's homicidal psychosis seems to come out of nowhere, but characterization is not the telefilm's strong point. Rusty Joiner is a model who turned to acting with mixed results.  

Verdict: Good-looking cast helps put this over ... barely. **.