The College Admissions Scandal


The College Admissions Scandal is a 2019 TV film that aired on Lifetime as part of its "Ripped from the Headlines" feature film. The film is based on the 2019 college admissions bribery scandal and stars Penelope Ann Miller, Mia Kirshner, and Michael Shanks. It tells a fictional account of the event that involves two fictional characters.

Premise

Caroline DeVere and Bethany Slade are two wealthy mothers. Caroline is an interior designer and Bethany owns a financial services firm. When they want their teenagers to get into an elite college, they resort to paying Rick Singer to get them in.

Cast

Production

On September 5, 2019, ET Online reported that characters in the film would be depicted by actresses Mia Kirshner and Penelope Ann Miller in roles inspired by Lori Loughlin's and Felicity Huffman's involvement in the college admissions matter. Describing her role, Kirshner was quoted saying, "This story is about privilege and corruption and it's about people who don't follow the rules because they think they're above rules... My character is so corrupt, greedy, narcissistic, self-centered, and the dialogue is hilarious, so I'm glad that they're able to capture humor about this as well."

Reception

The film premiered with a 719,000 viewers. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film scored based on reviews. On Metacritic, the film scored a 57 based on 7 critic reviews.
Gwen Ihnat of The A.V. Club gave the film a C+.