This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Odette (Gaby Hoffmann) is the new girl in Miss Godard's Preparatory School For Girls. Verena von Stefan (Kirsten Dunst) is the school bad girl and she quickly befriends Odette. Abby Sawyer (Rachael Leigh Cook) is the school monitor. Verena leads a group of girls called the DAR until plans to merge the school with a boy's academy turn the group upside down.This stars some of the best young actresses of the time. It's an uphill battle for sexual equality. Some of it is poignant and some of it is funny. But mostly it meanders. There are a lot of lead characters all going in different directions. It seems like the film wants Kirsten Dunst to lead, but she's just one of many.Writer/director Sarah Kernochan tries to get the right feel with the era music. But the writing isn't funny enough or sharp enough. While it's fun to see these stars at an early stage, it never really gets great. It's much more of a girls movie where the girls are smart. It's about girl power, and not just the easy sexy-girls-doing-kung-fu-fighting type of girl power.

It is definitely a movie that touched my heart and made me moved to LOTS of tears!I've recommended this movie to some friends, expecting them to feel the same way that I felt. It's so good to see somebody playing your life in a movie.This is a movie based on a private girls' boarding school and also a true story happened on the director herself years ago, in her teenage life.In the movie, those girls have dreams of their own. And they all achieve their goals after stepping into the grow-ups' world (they really are very successful in real world). I was touched because I saw how much they cherish each other's secret and how heartedly they help each other through the difficulties in reaching out for their dreams. I , like them, have lived in a all-girls boarding school for 6 years. The movie reminded me those times at many nights, in our beds, my friends and I listened carefully to each other's dream about future, we share our young hearts, just like the girls in the movie do.I don't know what other people would think of this movie, especially males. But after reading some critics about this movie, I know that it is time for girls to stand out. There has never been any movie like this to tell what a girl really wants and how we girls think ourselves are. Any girls who have spend their teenage time in Wesley would love this movie like I do , because during the movie I cry out several time that" it's just like what we do in school!". I think mothers would love this film because don't they always want to know what their girls are doing in school! Also teachers in school would pleased to see this movie because many things they want these girls to know but don't know in what way to teach them is the best way are shown in the movie. We will all smile and understand that what a girl's responsibility is to respect our own dream and to think that we are so important. Strike is definitely fitted to girls who want to prove the real woman in them. It shows how friendship will eventually conquer all. I really liked this because it showed the value of friendship and trust in our teenage life. I hope everyone has a great time seeing this because I did.

There were some amusing moments, but I guess the fact that I'm not a teenage girl was a problem. There were some fairly intelligent moments, too (not exactly something I expected) but it's no cinematic masterwork. (I suppose that's a given) It is nice to see that teen movies are getting at least a little bit racier. I can't wait for the day (or night, rather) that I watch this at a midnite art house screening on a double bill with something like Salo: 120 Days of Sodom. Now THAT would be something to talk about...

I ALMOST skipped this movie on a shelf at the video store, but I'm glad I didn't because it turned out to be one of my favorites. I was surprised that with it's well-known (and well cast) group of actors it didn't have a bigger release, but it's worth searching out if it's not at your local Blockbuster.The story takes place in 1963 and revolves around a group of best friends at an all girls boarding school. The girls take place in countless adventures and mis-adventures, determined to get what they want and find ways around the school rules. They have an amazingly tight friendship and find fun and trouble in almost every situation. However, when they find out that they're school is merging with a boys boarding school, they have mixed feelings, but attempt to pull off their craziest scheme yet.The acting was great, it was full of timely AND timeless humor, and is a fun, feel-good movie. The more I watch it, the more funny moments I find hidden in. It probably won't be the best movie you'll ever see, but it's something everyone (especially teen girls) will enjoy.