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Susan Granger's review of "LIGHT IT UP" (20th Century-Fox)
There's this neglected high school in Queens, New York, where a favorite teacher is suspended. In protest, six students barricade themselves inside the school, reluctantly taking a police officer (Forest Whitaker) hostage after he's accidentally shot. And the simplistic, cliche-ridden story predictably evolves. But there's a difference. After Columbine and other school shootings, this is a surprisingly effective civics lesson about the dangers of stereotyping. The six students are disparate personalities. There's the sensitive graffiti artist (Robert Ri'chard) and the school's star basketball player (R&B singer Usher Raymond), along with a purple-haired, pregnant wise-cracker (Sara Gilbert), a sardonic wheeler-dealer (Clifton Collins Jr.), a angry gang member (rap musician Fredro Starr) with an itchy trigger finger and a brainy beauty (Rosario Dawson) who tries to rationalize the impending chaos. Written and directed by Craig Bolotin, it was supposedly "inspired" by "The Breakfast Club," even casting Judd Nelson as the caring, sensitive teacher. Vanessa L. Williams is the hostage negotiator, and Glenn Turman is the school's beleaguered principal. The "Stop Racism!" signs that pop up among the crowd of spectators, along with the students' demands - the windows fixed, more textbooks, and a Career Day - deliver the message of the danger of repressed rage. However, there's little excuse for dialogue like one student's observation: "There was a quiet riot in all of us" or another's self-description: "a chalk-mark waiting to happen." On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Light It Up" is an irresponsible but well-intentioned 4. It's a flawed but plausible hostage thriller, another R-rated movie aimed at teens.
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