Surprisingly incoherent and boring

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Why is it that you can immediately see it when it is a television movie? From the first second of Fugitive At 17 it screams TV movie. From the first second I already regretted watching this movie. It oozes bad script, bad acting, and bad sound. The story is one of those stories we all saw hundred times before but all with a better execution. The major characters in this movie are played by Christina Cox and Marie Avgeropoulos, and it's obvious they will never get a big role in a decent movie. They are perfect to appear everynow and then in dumb series. No need to say their characters are painful to watch due to their mediocre acting. To create an ambiance in a movie you need good sound effects and music, and this was probably the lamest thing about this movie while it should be the easiest thing to fix. Nothing wrong with TV movies though, there are some good ones, but this one is clearly not one of them.

As it stands, it's a 5/10. Slightly better than most of you average afternoon TV-movie fare, but CERTAINLY NOT worth it's current 6.3 IMDb rating. I'll use Brian De Palma's "Passion" as a gauge there, as it's rated 5.3, and it's exemplary in terms of production quality and style compared to something like this. Far better acted and just strides better overall.Right off the bat we see the television/budget shortcomings. Terrible opening sequence with awful, cheap credits, blurry stock, and the whole beginning rushed to-boot, in typical TV-movie fashion.Then the film gains some steam with a promising start from the lead. Casper is also good as the villain here. As bad as the production values are, the film flows quite nicely, and the audience does feel for the lead character and her plight. BUT!The acting still falls flat in many places and there are some serious plausibility issues both procedural and otherwise, and the film just ends and starts a bit TOO much like a TV movie. The middle third isn't bad at all, but don't expect much.48/100 seen much worse. I knew the production values would be questionable but they were worse than I expected. The acting and the flow of the film were better than I expected, but I didn't expect much.I'd pass. Not even worth the $1.32 rental at the redbox.In hind-site, TV movies that are worth watching are rare... super rare.. and most that are worth watching were made by HBO films. Brian's Song, Long Gone(Stogies), Temple Grandin... Duel... there just aren't many GREAT TV movies. Fugitive at 17 isn't terrible, but it did nothing to distance itself from being 'a decent television movie' at the very best. I mean that in the 'this is a basic cable movie, not a 'premium channel' movie' kind of way to boot. Again, pass.

Sorry to disagree with most other reviews. I thought the story line was very good and some of the actors did adequate jobs. Noteworthy the Grandmother, the female detective, Christina Cox, and the friend played by Cindel Chartrand. But the leading player, Marie Avger. . .., was over the top acting and seemed out of place opposite the other performers. Sort of high school acting when others played simplicity and believable characters. You had sympathy and compassion for them. This critic felt nothing for the leading role of Holly. She acted too much in the part. I always like to find something positive in actors and their work. But in this one, I gotta say I just didn't like her work. Maybe too old for a high school student and one look on her face throughout the movie. A blank sort of stare. Walking around so obviously conspicuously that it was funny. The scene in the restaurant where there were two cops, she walks out hunched over with this stupid hood over her face. So obvious. And continues walking everywhere with the hood over her head. I just thought she was wrong in the role as compared to the others. Sorry.

Terrific suspense thriller where 2 girls certainly get more than what they bargained for when they attend a college party. One girl is drugged to death and her friend is soon blamed for her death when the killer drugged her as well and planted narcotics in her purse.The rest of the story is devoted to hunting down the girl who is able to escape while being transported to a facility. Clever, she is able to trace the culprit to the economics department at the college. Problem throughout is that no one will really believe her except a police woman who is being pressured to get results from her superior, her former ex-husband.