People are voting emotionally.

Great Film overall

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

This is a decent bank robbery movie where the characters are teenagers who plan the heist for the day of their high school graduation. There are several side stories surrounding the main plot, and everything comes together at the end. It's not high drama or suspense; it's geared for a young audience and in that sense it delivers. The filming, sound and acting are all competent.All that being said, this is not a 10 star movie as several of the reviews posted here indicate.When I initially wrote this review back in early June there were five other reviews of this movie. Four of those reviews give this movie 10 stars, and those four reviewers (RBigs, hareyT, choul and MsMaryS) seem to be the same person. If you go and look at what else these reviewers have reviewed you will see that the reviews are for the same exact movies written on the same date and all are given incredibly high marks: mostly 10 stars, a couple of 9s. The reviews even read as if written by the same person.I've seen the movie "Flawless" which is one of the movies that this person reviewed and gave it 10 stars. "Flawless" is another good bank heist movie; it's a sleek, sophisticated and polished film that I'd rate at 7 or 8 stars. "Flawless" is a better film that "Graduation", but the this multiple reviewer gives them both ten stars. RBigs, summarizes one of the movies he/she reviewed as "Finally, a good movie". But, every movie that RBigs reviewed was given 10 stars --- so there is just no quality assessment to the reviews.

Four friends on the verge of graduation face a tough decision. One of their friends, Carl (Chris Marquette) has a mother who's battling cancer, and things look grim for her unless she gets a bone marrow transplant. They don't have insurance, and need $100,000 to perform the operation.Harvard bound student Polly (Shannon Lucio) plans an almost impossible scenario. She suggests the four of them rob her father's bank. Her jock boyfriend (Riley Smith) is against the idea - mostly because he doesn't want to screw up his chances in life. Rebellious Jackson (Chris Lowell), who has a secret crush on Polly, is all for the idea. So the four friends devise a masterful plan to rob the bank vault on their graduation day.There's been several bank heist movies lately, but what I liked the most about "Graduation" is that the characters are going through the typical teenage angst. Polly is dealing with her father's infidelity, Chauncey is dealing with the fact that Jackson likes Polly, Jackson is dealing with the fact that he likes Polly, and Carl is dealing with his ailing mother. They rob the bank not for their own personal gain, but to help an ailing woman. I couldn't help but to think if I was in Carl's situation, what would I do? I would do the same thing, anything to protect the one I love.Sure, it's not THE best heist movie ever made, but it was an enjoyable film, and it made you get involved in the characters' lives, and you root for them to complete this seemingly impossible task.

I just wanted to give an advise to those who are wondering if the movie is good enough.Yes, it is. Its actually the perfect combination of action and drama. On the one hand you have good looking young actors, who gives a brilliant performance, and on the other you are truly involved in the plot. You are touched by the songs, played in the background, with one of the best alternative sounds like Iggy Pop, Bloc Party. The most considerable part of the movie are the characters. They are all different from each other, but are still together to fight for a good cause.(bank robbery is no more something bad D). Anyway I'm not sure that everyone will like the movie, but you can give it a try, but if you're a teenager I strongly recommend it to you ;)

You turn your back on the girl of your dreams....just when she finally wants you. You ignore your awesome IQ. You become 'violent' for the first time in your life .. and decide that is your best career choice. You wily nilly stick your unmasked face inches away from the person who's testimony will put you away for 20 years when she ID's you. So much for the gibberish, nonsensical and absurd final scene. Obviously the last scene represents writing gone 'amok.' Given all the planning and joint efforts of an entire group, a group that had 'special' help in making the robbery workable, it is ludicrous to tell us that any one person can go it alone as a career choice and hope to succeed. Might as well end the film with him putting a gun to his head and pulling the trigger. Make the hospital scene 'your' final scene for a way better film.