Terrell Howell (KnightsofNi11) This movie is a mess. Hardly anything works. There are too many story lines going on with no clear direction or focus to it. It is a crude mishmash of story lines, all of which are equally uninteresting. School Daze is Spike Lee's second feature film. It is set at the fictional black college Mission University where there are two opposing groups of students who can't accept the differences between each other. Laurence Fishburne plays an unpopular student who opposes pledging to fraternities in a school where that kind of thing is the social norm. The most prestigious of these fraternities is the Gamma Phi Gamma fraternity which Spike Lee's character, Half Pint, is trying to become a part of. There are many other story lines about other underdeveloped characters, but in the end I got no entertainment out of a single one so they are hardly worth noting or remembering.School Daze is a poorly stirred mixture of genres that confuses more than entertains. It is dominated by aspects of drama with some unfunny comedy mixed in. The jokes for the most part aren't even amusing and the drama is useless and uninteresting. Oh yeah and it's also a musical. I knew almost nothing about this film going into other than the fact that it was a Spike Lee film, so I engaged in some hefty head scratching when the first musical number kicked in about 25 minutes into the film, which should be a big no no in the musical genre. School Daze is the only musical I can think of that doesn't open with a big production number. However, what songs there are in this film are sparse and unmemorable. All the dance numbers seem awkward and every song feels out of place. I think this film could have done slightly better if the musical aspect had been dropped completely. The songs appear at the most random and scattered moments of the film and contribute nothing to the film, story wise or artistically.Honestly, School Daze is a pretty boring film. Nothing much happens and scene after scene makes the film as a whole feel more pointless and misguided. I felt like I was accomplishing nothing by watching this film, which can be OK as long as the film has some entertainment value, which School Daze has none of. The film supposedly has a deep seated and heartfelt message about African American relations, but I didn't feel this at all until the cheesy and abrupt ending of the film where I once again proceeded to scratch my head in confusion. Maybe I missed some of the more important aspects of the film amidst my boredom, but it was hard to stay mildly interested in these mediocre characters and dull story lines.Overall I can respect Spike Lee for trying to make an important and relevant film, but the execution of his idea went horribly wrong. I couldn't get into this movie at all. There was nothing interesting about School Daze. It was a jumbled mess of story lines and characters that had little motivation or development. There were times when a certain character that we hadn't spent any time previously developing would all of the sudden pop up and be important. But really everything towards the end of this film didn't resonate with me in any way because I was already fed up with the movie and wanted nothing more than for it to end. I truly wanted to enjoy this film, but it was just impossible. School Daze was a major disappointment.

leighabc123 I was very young and naive when I first saw this movie. I was a young innocent kid who never even thought about going to college. But I bought this movie on DVD, 17 years after it originally came out. After I completed 5 1/2 years of college at a non HBCU, I understand it better. Once again, Laurence Fishburne was type-casted in this movie. He always plays the guy that knows it all. Spike Lee once again put himself in one of his movies. Most of the Different World cast was in this movie. Tisha Campbell was a very old 18 year old girl in this movie. Tisha's character was a gullible fool in this movie. She licked the guy's head! She also cried over that fool after she was dumped for sleeping with Spike Lee! Jasmine Guy looked as good then as she does today! This movie proves how ignorant men who pledge to fraternities really are. Take the blinders off your eyes! Hazing really occurs in college like the hazing these guys experienced in this movie! It is just not reported. I was amazed to see Tyra Ferrell as a jigaboo instead of a wannabe. If you want to see a great Spike Lee movie, keep looking. But if you want to see a good Spike Lee movie, watch School Daze.

JonTMarin (SOME SPOILERS) Coming off the heels of the successful "She's Gotta Have It", Spike Lee examines tension between blacks in "School Daze". When "School Daze" was originally released it caused an uproar in the African American community. African Americans accused Lee for "airing dirty laundry". A lot of this happened because "School Daze" showcases the tension between light skinned African Americans and dark skin African Americans. A lot of this true. This is seen more recently in music videos. A lot of models with darker complexion complain that women with lighter skin get all the spotlight. This has been going on for a long time in the African American community. This is seen in the rivalry between Tisha Campbell's character Jane and Kyme's character Rachel. They even get into an entertaining musical titled "Good or Bad Hair". The funny thing about that scene is that the darker women is in the group called Nappy and the lighter women is in the group Straight. This is also carried on in the feud between Dap (Laurence Fishburne) and Julian (Giancarlo Esposito). There is also a very thought provoking ending that is a must see (common Spike Lee trademark) With "School Daze" you get three in one, it's a frat comedy that turns into a musical that turns into a social statement. But nonetheless, this film is entertaining form beginning to end. Watch out for a lot of familiar faces, most of the cast went on to be huge stars.School Daze- rated R *** out of ****

guyfromjerzee I'm a fan of Spike Lee and look up to him, being an aspiring director. I wouldn't rank this film up there with "Do the Right Thing," since it has its flaws, but I still found it entertaining and the characters generally engaging. Spike has a knack for writing, as well as directing. The minor problems I had with "School Daze" were that it dragged a bit (quite a few scenes could've used trimming), some of the acting is wooden, the occasional music numbers seemed forced (this is also considering I'm not a big fan of musicals) and the ending didn't satisfy me. Aside from the end scene being pretentious, it seemed way too forced in an otherwise realistic film. Laurence Fishburne, who's a naturally brilliant actor that never disappoints, gives the best performance of the film. He compensates for some of the more amateurish members of the cast. By the way, expect to see a lot of Spike's regulars--including Bill Nunn, Ossie Davis and Samuel L. Jackson in a nice bit part. Also, expect to see several actors from "A Different World." It's evident that Spike was probably in a frat back in his college days, since the film feels authentic and the frat scenes are rich with detail. I recommend "School Daze," if you're a Spike fan like me, though it's nowhere near as powerful as most of his work. (7 out of 10)