Why Lynda Johnson is Unlikable Enough to Derail 'Driven to Dance'

According to Vocal, it was eleven months ago that I reviewed On Pointe/Driven to Dance, an independently funded film that started its life on the film festival market under the title On Pointe before making the leap to Netflix as Driven to Dance--distributed by frequent Lifetime movie flyer MarVista Entertainment. My review gave the film a 9 out of 10 and spoke praises about it, with one of my praises being revolved around the character of Lynda Johnson--the mother of main protagonist Paige (played beautifully by Juliet Doherty), claiming her character arc was a powerful one that was done well.

In hindsight, though....I have to say I was mistaken.

Before I go into my correction, I wish to give my apologies for my previous review which has proved to be misleading in regards to my true feelings for this film--with my apologies going out in particular towards the film's director and any other cast members who may have read my initial thoughts. While much of my original thoughts still stand, my renewed feelings regarding one particular character and the film elements that surround them certainly change how I feel about the film.

That character in question is, as you've probably figured out, is Lynda Johnson, and here is my list of the reasons why her character greatly detracts from On Pointe/Driven to Dance as a film.

#1: Her motivation never makes any sense

In her opening scene of the film, Lynda confronts Paige after she returns home late from ballet practice, and reveals that because of two B's she made in math, she's signing her up for a math tutor and, thus, won't be able to pay for her dance classes anymore. While you might initially think this means she's something of an academic Tiger Mom, the film goes to lengths to show that Lynda's motivations are motivated less by Paige's grades and more on simply wanting a reason to forbid Paige from dancing.

And her reason is.....never really explained well. She explicitly states she wants Paige to go to college--despite Paige's apprehension at the idea--and claims she wants her to do more than just dance, but she never gives any indication what is she she does want her daughter to be doing with her time. Some synopses give the impression that she wants Paige to give up dance in favor of a more financially secure career path--which would be understandable, given her own struggles with employment during the course of the film--but that is never a definitively stated intention of hers either. So in the end, we're left as confused about Lynda's motivation as Paige and are left to assume she only wants Paige to stop dancing because she wants to take her frustration about her own problems out on her daughter. Not a good way to start out a character, and Lynda only gets worse from this point on.

#2: She's incredibly vindictive against Paige

From the very beginning, Lynda appears to solely get pleasure out of making her daughter's life miserable, to the point where you would think you were watching a particularly mean-spirited episode of a Disney kidcom where a teenage school bully swapped bodies with their victim's mother to mess with them. In her first scene alone, Lynda all but reveals her favoritism of Paige's brother Alex over her (she gets onto Paige about her two B's while smugly refuses to acknowledge Alex's poor grades), mocks her daughter for supposedly not having friends because of her focus on dance, and even is later revealed to be bashing her talent for dance behind her back. Her tone when speaking about her informed desire for her daughter to take time away from dance betrays that desire and makes it seem she's only doing this to hurt her--which is supported by her later essentially using the argument of "If I can't be happy, you can't either" to Paige in reference to her stance against her dancing.

#3: She's horrifically entitled and arrogant

Throughout the entire film, Lynda believes that being Paige's mother gives her the right to decide what her daughter does with her life and where she plans to go after high school--to the point where she believes she can dictate whether or not she auditions for a dance school in San Francisco. She also implicitly refuses to acknowledge her own flaws and shuts down any attempts from Paige to call her out on those faults. This also transfers over to her attempts at finding work, as shown by her mocking a potential employer when he rejects her on the grounds of (gasp) not having enough work experience. *sarcasm mode* My god, what a monster....

#4: Her vindictiveness carries over to her ex--something the film haphazardly tries to justify

The film opens with Lynda refuses to let her ex-husband Derek into her house to get her to sign their divorce papers, refusing to admit that their marriage is over. While this does lend itself to allowing sympathy for Lynda (in fact, her best scene of the film has her opening up to a co-worker about her fears of being a single mother and living without him), but her attitude towards the man she's supposedly still holding a torch for betrays that potential sympathy.

In her first sit-down with Derek, she becomes mad at him for trying to get her to not smoke and when he asks Paige about how her dancing is going (frustratedly asking why he can't ask her about something "meaningful"). Her attempts at pleading with Derek not to give up on them also fall flat when she falls right back into "Indignant Control Freak" mode when he reveals he's moved on--something he had every right to do, given how he'd made his desire to leave Lynda (something her behavior makes all the more understandable) a presumed long time ago.

Had Derek ended up as a surprise ally for Paige as the film progressed and played a role in Paige's character arc by standing up to his bitter ex-wife over how she treats their daughter, that would've made for an interesting watch. But instead, the film attempts to humanize Lynda by means of abruptly turning Derek into a neglectful and thoughtless jerk, as if that somehow nullifies Lynda's behavior. It comes off as a cheap cope-out, and is an unfortunate waste of a potential interesting storyline.

#4: Her spiteful behavior segues into emotional and physical abuse--and the film never calls it out as such.

If the italics and underline didn't show this, this is the point that really gets under my skin about Lynda. After a film filled with Paige essentially being an emotional punching bag for her mother, the climax--which comes after some well-done scenes that actually effectively bring humanizing colors to Lynda--has Lynda confront Paige and verbally bash her during a class, relentlessly putting her down and calling her passion pathetic, and--in her most revolting moment that kills any potential she had as a redeemable character--slaps her daughter across the face when she stands up to her cruel words.

Her spitefulness only progresses from there, as Lynda forbids Paige from coming back to the dance studio, takes away her driving privileges, and outright refuses to acknowledge that she lied about considering letting her dance again if her non-existent poor grades improved. The fact that Lynda is a textbook abusive parent and the film never acknowledges this or really forces her to face any consequences for her actions really grinds my gears and is sure to do so even more for victims of similar parental abuse.

(Lynda's abusiveness also hurts the otherwise strong character that is Paige's supportive dance instructor Glenn, as his essential reaction to seeing one of his prized students being abused by her mother is simply to tell her to take it somewhere else. While he eventually is the one who gets Lynda to soften up on Paige, his way of doing so plays into the idea that Lynda is simply a misguided but ultimately well-intentioned parent rather than what she actually comes across as: an emotionally abusive woman taking her anger out on her own child)

#5: Her redemption arc rings hollow and empty

After everything Lynda had put Paige through during the course of the film, it would take a lot of work on her part to even come close to redeeming herself--and On Pointe/Driven to Dance doesn't even get within twenty miles of that margin. It literally takes seeing one video of Paige dancing and a brief pep talk from Glenn to turn Lynda from 100% against Paige's dance career to completely content with it.

This is not only rushed character development, but additionally comes across as a kick to the teeth to anyone who (like me) spent the movie waiting for Paige's climatic and cathartic moment of standing up to her cruel mother and deciding that she didn't need her support to go after her dreams. That would've made for a much more interesting story rather than Lynda's half-baked redemption arc.

In Conclusion:

This film appears to have been a crowd-funded passion project, and the people behind this On Pointe/Driven to Dance obviously devoted a lot of time and effort to this film. The cinematography is especially great by the standards of indie films, Juliet Doherty is an incredible dancer and surprisingly strong actress, and the rest of the cast is similarly strong. Even Kaitlyn Black, despite being saddled with a mess of a character, does her best to bring a few likable and sympathetic moments to Lynda. But as a whole, Lynda makes the film uncomfortable to watch, leaving the rest of the film's good elements struggling to overcome her toxic influence.

As such, I amend my original review and give On Pointe/Driven to Dance a 4 out of 10. Again, my deepest apologies for this mistake, and I look forward to seeing director/writer Tati Vogt improve going forward and to her next MarVista distributed film, The Lies I Tell Myself.