The Party Never Stops: Diary of a Binge Drinker

This was a watchable enough TV movie in a train derailment sort of way. A Lifetime movie with a message. Actually it reminded me of those "after school specials" that were all the rage when I was growing up. Addictive but cheesy, over the top dramatizations of teens making bad decisions and then dealing with the consequences.

Here we follow promising track star and mama's girl Jessie Brenner as she heads off to college. Trying to fit in and be one of the cool kids she soon starts partying with her dorm-mate and before long slides into binge drinking and debauchery while lying to her mother about her constant partying and late hours. Promiscuity, car wrecks, topless internet videos, failing grades and general bad decisions soon follow.

Despite being a bit hard to take seriously, I enjoyed Nancy Travis as the Mum and Sara Paxton did a decent enough job as Jessie. Some of the party scenes were pretty hilarious and there were some continuity issues. I also found the ending predictable as Lifetime gives one last desperate attempt to drive the "bad drinking" message home to young and influencable viewers. 4/6/15

*Victoria BC as somewhere college town USA.