Finally, an MTV movie worth watching!

Rating: 8/10 (16 February 2001)

After a few years of really, REALLY bad movie making, MTV finally strikes gold with this movie. Look for Sean Patrick Thomas to star in many more motion pictures, as he really holds his own here. Derek, played by Sean Patrick, is basically the glue that holds the relationships together, all while fighting his own demons of self doubt. The character of Sara, played by Julia Stiles, plays her part the way it should be played. Shy at first, because she gets ripped from the only home she ever really knew and then thrust into an inner city Chicago high school as one of possibly three other white kids which you never see. But she also defends herself verbally with anyone that gives her any static.
At first I was a little disappointed with all the racial stereotypes. Inner city Chicago school loaded with black students, so obviously there has to be security at the door. Plenty of hip-hop and smack running in the cafeteria and, of course, the air of drugs, weapons, and drive bys. However, as the film progressed, I started to wonder if that isn't what really drives the movie forward. In one of the sub-plots, Derek tries to get his best friend Maliki out of the gang scene that seems to be holding him back. Without the inner city stereotypes, it would be a pointless for Derek to try and change Maliki.
What makes this movie as good as it was is the fact that you wanted to like everyone in the movie, and you hope that everything will turn out alright for everyone in it at the end. (With the possible exception of Nikki, who spends the entire movie trying to split up Derek and Sara.) The part of Sara's father was well written and performed. He spent what little movie time he had trying to be the father he knew he should have been, and is less concerned about Sara and Derek than most.
All in all, this movie was very well written and performed. Look for Stiles and Thomas to go far in their acting career. If they are as good with big name stars as they are with each other, I'm sure that we'll see alot more of both of them.
Grade: A-