There are women in the film, but none has anything you could call a personality.

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

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

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).

I accidentally ran into this movie on the Sundance channel and couldn't stop watching it. Menace and danger plus banality and boredom - high school from top to bottom, and nothing that anyone does or says in this really well-acted film is anything other than exactly what a 17-year-old would do or say. Good moments include the teen mom telling off a guy for dogging her one day and accepting his charm offensive the next; the only visible mom having no ability to say any unangry, unjudgemental thing to her tough, suffering daughter; and the ineffective and heartbreaking confrontation with the guy the three friends think drove their fourth friend to suicide. The girls are p_ssed, resentful, revengeful, smart, excited, violent, and together all in on the right scale - an excellent girls' Dazed and Confused that gets a perfect 10 for realness.

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.

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.