17 out of 21 people found the following review helpful:
Quality film has an awful start
Ivan Mckeon from Fleetwood, England,
5th March, 2007
Although the film has simplistic plot-line about rich kids getting into trouble on the “wrong side of the tracks”, this is just the backbone upon which director Barbara Koppel hangs an astute study of false impressions. In some cases these false impressions are created deliberately as in rich soft white kids pretending to be hardened gangsta rappers. At other times they are born of prejudice and misunderstandings. There is a wonderful scene early in the film when Allison (Anne Hathaway) walks around the kitchen of her home reading the post-its that her parents have left for each other. In those few brief moments we get a wonderful impression of her totally dysfunctional family while later on, when they bail her out of jail, they appear to be the perfect concerned parents. Allison's sterile family background is in stark contrast to the rich, vibrant family lifethat we later glimpse of the Latino 'bad-boy' who she falls for and who's life she ultimately puts in jeopardy. The film is very much a vehicle for Hathaway and she carries out her responsibilities with aplomb. Her performance is well worthy of the DVD “Best Actress” award that she received for it. The much talked about nudity is neither excessive nor exploitative. What we do see is totally in keeping with the story and, if anything, the motel room scene involving Emily (Bijou Phillips) is rather tame by European standards. The only major fault with the film is the director's brave (foolhardy?) decision to begin with a scene containing appallingly bad dialogue and wooden acting. This gives (ironically) the false impression that we are about to see a particularly bad hip-hop movie. This is a deliberate part of the story rather than a reflection of the script and the actors. The fact that the scene includes a student capturing these antics on video should be enough to alert the viewer to this fact but, judging from many comments and reviews, this seems to have passed many people by (including some so-called professional critics). Perhaps this is one case where non-linear storytelling would have helped the film.
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