Wild and rebellious, yet cunning and seductive teenager Amy Fisher (an excellent and convincing performance by Drew Barrymore) has her life spiral dangerously out of control after she becomes involved with older married man Joey Buttafouco (a credible portrayal by Anthony John Denison). Director Andy Tennant, working from an engrossing script by Janet Brownell, relates the sordidly absorbing story at a brisk pace, firmly grounds the narrative in a believable working class reality, and neatly captures not only Fisher's adolescent petulance, confusion, and unhappy home, but also the resultant media frenzy over the whole seamy affair. Moreover, Tennant and Brownell wisely avoid lurid sensationalism while telling the plot from several different and often contrasting points of view. While Barrymore's first-rate characterization of the bratty and troubled Amy dominates the proceedings, she nonetheless receives sturdy support from Harley Jane Kozak as sarcastic reporter Amy Pagnozzi, Tom Mason as shrewd defense attorney Eric Naiburg, Laurie Patton as Buttafouco's loyal wife Mary Jo, Ken Pogue as Amy's stern and overbearing dad Elliot, and Linda Darlow as Amy's ineffectual mother Roseann. Glen MacPherson's smooth and agile cinematography provides a impressive glossy look. Worth a watch.

Amy Fisher, aka the "Long Island Lolita", was a seventeen-year-old girl who, in 1992, shot and severely wounded Mary Jo Buttafuoco, the wife of her thirty-something lover Joey Buttafuoco. Fisher was subsequently sentenced to seven years in prison. The media have always been prone to sensationalising crime stories, but this tendency seemed particularly pronounced in America during the early nineties, the age of O. J. Simpson, Lorena Bobbitt and the Menendez brothers. Amy therefore became an instant media celebrity and all three major US television networks rushed out dramatisations of her case. "The Amy Fisher Story" was ABC's contribution; the others were "Amy Fisher: My Story" (NBC) and "Casualties of Love: the Long Island Lolita Story" (CBS).I cannot compare "The Amy Fisher Story" with "Casualties of Love", which I have never seen, and will not attempt a comparison with the NBC version (known in Britain as "Lethal Lolita") as I have not seen it since was first seen on British television about fifteen years ago. "The Amy Fisher Story" did, however, remind me of another TV movie from the early nineties, "Too Young to Die?" from three years earlier. Both films are, to some extent at least, based on true stories and both deal with a shooting carried out by a teenage girl. Both feature an outstanding performance from an up-and-coming young actress, Juliette Lewis in the earlier film and Drew Barrymore here. During their teenage years both Lewis and Barrymore seemed to specialise in "wild child" roles- Barrymore's best-known was probably in "Poison Ivy"- and in Barrymore's case there was plenty of speculation that these roles mirrored her off-screen antics. Here she is excellent as Amy- a wild, out-of-control young woman, at war with her strict parents (especially her father) and obsessed with her older lover.Of the two films, "Too Young to Die?", which is several cuts above the average made-for-TV true crime drama, is the better. I think it gains by the decision to fictionalise the story on which it is based. It advertised itself not as the true story of the Attina Cannady case but rather as a fictional story loosely based on that case, which makes it easier for the film to raise some very pertinent questions about an important social issue, namely America's use of the death penalty. The acting is also of a higher standard in that film; apart from Barrymore's few contributions in "The Amy Fisher Story" stand out."The Amy Fisher Story" did, by contrast, advertise itself as a dramatisation of a true story, and like many such films, especially made-for-TV ones, is told in a drily factual style. It is not, moreover, even factually accurate in all particulars. After his wife's shooting, Joey Buttafuoco denied that there had ever been any sexual relationship between Amy and himself, claiming that she had grown desperate when he rejected her advances. The film, which was rushed out soon after the shooting, takes these denials at face value, presumably in order not to jeopardise Buttafuoco's pending trial for statutory rape, but soon afterwards he changed his plea to guilty and served several months in jail.In many respects "The Amy Fisher Story" is no more than an average film, but I have given it an above-average mark for Barrymore's performance. 6/10

Yesterday my friend convinced me to go to White Hen. I agreed, and I'm glad I did because if i wasn't there at the right time, I never would have purchased this film that I have been searching for years for and was very cheap. I was surprised to find this obscure movie at White Hen. This was a movie that Drew Barrymore starred in at the lowest point in her career (go to her page and you will see what I mean.) Drew Barrymore nailed the accent of the "Long Island Lolita", Amy Fisher, the seductive and troubled teen who was sexually abused as a child and falls in love with Joseph "Joey" Buttafuoco and seduces him into a sexual relationship after meeting him by crashing her car, and crashing it over and over and over again as an excuse to see him. She becomes obsessed with him, and while she respects his wife and the fact that he has a happy family, decides to attempt and kill his wife so she can be with him. Drew Barrymore's incredible performance makes you sympathize with Amy, and makes you wonder if she had had a normal life and hadn't felt so trapped in her house her whole life, maybe she wouldn't be so screwed up. Awesome script, awesome movie, you can tell the director and writer put a ton of work into making it perfect, and look at how kickass Amy is today!

Amy Fisher had her fifteen minutes of fame as the "Long Island Lolita" who shot her lover's wife. So lurid a tale was this, that all three major networks rushed a television movie into production. Two of the movies even aired on the same night. Of the three movies, this is the finest.Drew Barrymore, after her memorable roles as a child actor, but before her recent string of movies as an angel of purity, excelled at sluttiness. And sluttiness is the key attribute necessary to portray Ms. Fisher.The story sticks close to the headlines, is enjoyably lurid and Drew Barrymore is excellent.I recommend this movie to all fans of Drew Barrymore and to anyone wanting to see an enjoyable dramatization of Long Island's most infamous affair.