JohnHowardReid Confused and confusing who-dun-it filmed in a relentlessly jerky TV style with at least 95% close-ups that make it even more difficult to follow the action. Just about everyone in the whole cast of about ninety people receive a close-up. The viewer has no idea whether they are important to the plot or not. Only the investigator himself and the headmaster – in a much smaller role – make any impression. Even the victim herself is not firmly delineated. Nor are her friends – if they are "friends"! It's impossible to tell who is who! Who are the "good" people and who are the rotten apples? And at the end of the movie, we are just left in a state of complete confusion. In fact, we are even more confused than we were while the plot was jerkily unfolding. Who was the best friend of who? As far as the principle plot and all the sub-plots were concerned, virtually nothing was explained, nothing was made clear. The only plot item that was made quite emphatically was the small and rather insignificant point that the racist headmaster didn't cotton to the sheriff. As a result, the headmaster sought to have the sheriff sacked, and possibly did so – but even this was not made crystal clear!

hippyhibby Interesting idea and storyline which didn't quite work.When you see the film, maybe you will feel as dissatisfied with the ending as I did. I didn't really know who to root for in the movie, Taye Diggs looked bored as the detective, the rest of the characters seem so one-dimensional and unpleasant.If the victim Alicia(Mia Kirschner) had been more of a nice girl, we might actually have enjoyed seeing the plot unfold and the perpetrator brought to justice. The problem was that she was as bitchy as the other girls, turning from sweet girl to conniving opportunistic cokehead. I can't understand the moral message of this film, and as a detective story and thriller it doesn't work.

madmagemc One could certainly make the statement 'why should we care' about this film, and perhaps one should have posed that question to the director. Very little attention was paid, it seems, to anything which might endear any of this film's characters to the viewer. While the four female leads are intended to flutter between victim and villain as the story progresses, the performances ring hollow, contrived, and ultimately fall short of what I would hope started as a grand study of human sociology. Indeed this idea is suggested by their forced cooperation on a senior year project. Again, one is left with the feeling of too many tongs in the fire, and not enough hands to mind them.While great pains are taken to show the villainy of Alicia Campbell (Mia Kirschner), the final upshot of all her ill deeds struck me as not only rediculous, but totally unfeasable, unattainable, and illogical. The broad strokes used to bring conclusion to the film failed to deflty weave together the many loose threads, instead preferring to shelack them to the table in an effort to prevent their fluttering away. It was nice to see the sidekick from "The Craft" continuing to make a name for herself as an out of control socialite.Thankfully this film was not terribly long, although the music was surprisingly good. I'm still not sure why the director felt it was necessary to pepper the film with gratuitous breast shots, increasing in frequency as the film progress. My only thought is they began to suspect the film was failing as a concept piece, and chose the lowest common denominator for salvation.Whatever your take on it, this film is still moderately entertaining, even if the ideology behind it has been beaten like a narc at a biker rally.

purpobandit Not very interesting teen whodunit saved from being a turkey from some decent performances. The main cast consisting of Taye Diggs, Mia Kirshner, Dominique Swain and surprisingly Meredith Monroe are all good but the story is not very original.