The only real problem I have with this film is that it implies that men are the cause of most - if not practically all - of women's problems. In its quest to prove this point the film gives an unrepresentative portrayal of men, and treads into feminist waters. It isn't representative because two of the four girls were (date-)raped. That's 50%. And of the other two one is constantly beaten by her child's father. That's 75% abused, altogether.After Taylor hears that two of her friends (including the suicide girl) were date-raped she says that this is completely common and so normal it isn't even worth talking about. This is nonsense; I find it hard to believe that male urban youth of America mostly consists of violent thugs and rapists. Later on Taylor complains that she would never get hired as a mechanic because she is a woman. (Who had the brilliant idea of casting Taylor as a hobby mechanic?!) And what's this PC nonsense about date-rape anyway? Americans have too few ("real") problems so they have to invent them.The girl with the long nails is supposed to play basketball; and how exactly does she manage to do that, with those gross, gigantic nails? She couldn't play golf with those things! And how come the white girl didn't get into trouble with the guy whose car she demolished (since the whole school knew who did it)? As far as the girl who committed suicide is concerned, at the beginning of the film she expresses her wish to study "African-American history". (She gets accepted into Princeton but she decides to waste it on something useless as that. Who's gonna hire her with a degree like that?) Otherwise, this film about the increasingly dumbed-down (American) youth is interesting to watch. The revenge scenes are fun, and the dialog is generally good. Taylor is quite good. The (c)rap soundtrack is hideous, though (but fitting in a way, I suppose).

What makes this movie amazing is the simplicity. The realness of the actors (thanks to an amazing sense of improv by the three leads) is what makes this my all-time favorite movie. It is the only film I can watch consecutively and never get tired of it. Jim McKay is an amazing director, as he has come out with some other good films, but, to me, none have topped this one. Lili Taylor is phenomenal as a "street-wise" single mother still in high school. Bruklyn Harris' AngelA! is a character I would personally love to be friends with and Anna Grace's style is perfect for a teenage girl. For anyone who grew up in Queens, Brooklyn, or the Bronx, this movie brings much familiarity. For those who've never been, this film will take you there.

This is a film that starts out being about one thing and then ignores that and becomes about nothing! Film starts out with a group of high school friends and suddenly one of them commits suicide. After a few weak attempts at trying to figure out why their friend would do such a thing the film goes into another direction of abusive boyfriends and bickering among themselves. These girls have so much attitude that it becomes impossible to feel any sympathy for them. Then at the end of the film they put in some unbelievable plot device to answer the question for the friends suicide. Totally contrived. The only thing worth watching is Lili Taylor as she shows us once again she can play just about any type of character. Here she plays a dumb white girl that grew up in a black neighborhood and inherited all the urban problems. But the script needed a rewrite badly and director Jim McKay and Taylor who help write this film need more of a focus point to the story. This film just stumbles about aimlessly!

i *loved* this movie. it is very realistic and it deals with very realistic issues that are difficult to deal with. what i liked most about it, was that rather than everyone getting shot or something which is typical with "urban" movies, this one even tho times were difficult, the characters still plodded onwards towards school. nice1.