‘Toodle-oo,’ Miss Meadows quips, as she guns down a hardened criminal in the broad daylight of an idyllic American suburb. Katie Holmes plays the titular character, a Jackie Kennedy lookalike, with a penchant for vigilantism. To accessorise her pristine white gloves and knee high stockings, she carries a .25 calibre snub nose pistol. She only needs one shot to invoke her adorable brand of capital punishment. ‘Oh dear! I got blood on my dress!’
Bonkers, you say? You’d be correct, but perhaps not in the way you’d expect. The poster, trailer and opening five minutes of the film make you think you’re in for a bizarre mashup of Pleasantville meets Death Wish, but after the opening kill, the movie veers away from exploitation fun and turns into an indie drama about girl-meets-boy. Yes, you read that correctly.
Miss Meadows has got to be one of the greatest cinematic miscalculations in recent memory. Katie Holmes delivers a strong, I dare say spot-on performance and the supporting cast, James Badge Dale as an accordion playing cop and Jean Smart as Mother Meadows, never miss a beat – but that’s where the good news ends. Is the story about Miss Meadows trying to let go of her past? Or is it a postmodern commentary on the injustice in the world? Or is it just a fun character thrown into completely the wrong genre and plot?
Things continue to decline as a serial child molester appears in the neighbourhood and Miss Meadows is forced decide between her burgeoning love for Mike the cop, or taking out the bad guy. Perhaps writer-director Karen Leigh Hopkins wasn’t entirely comfortable drifting from the familial dramas of her previous work (Stepmom, Because I Said So). Which leads us to the question: if you can’t commit to an exploitation fantasy, then why write a story about a tap dancing, murderous vigilante who acts and dresses like a Stepford Wife?