IslandGuru Who payed the critics

ChicRawIdol A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Abegail Noëlle While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

The_Film_Cricket Chantel, an African-American girl of 17, has dreams, which is more then one can say for those around her. Just on the edge of her high school years she is surrounded by people who have resigned themselves to a life of hanging out on the street corner.Chantel wants a future being admired for her brain. She dreams of medical school, a husband and children and a home away from the hood. But then something unexpected happens. Chantel's future is put on hold when she becomes pregnant by her boyfriend.The movie has some wonderful ideas. The problem is that Chantel is so hateful that it is hard to care about her plight. It is easy to understand that she would be angry and frustrated at the prospect of having to curb her dreams but she is so unpleasant to watch that it is hard for the viewer to get close to her. I don't think that every movie has to have likable characters to work, but in this case it seems essential.I was reminded of another film 'Shallow Grave' about three hateful Scots trying to steal a million dollars. In that film as with this one it depends on whether or not we care about the people involved and in both cases we don't.

lukegrifpa The actress playing the main character had some charisma, but otherwise the acting is really terrible, even for an indy. The actors themselves are clearly inexperienced, but the director apparently didn't know how to work with them to pick up the pace, and probably didn't have the budget to do more than one or two takes. The cliche dialogue didn't help much either.

jjispi While this is a very good debut for the writer/director, the end falls apart. The story revolves around a seventeen year old girl living with her parents and brothers in the Brooklyn projects. She is a good student, and spends the majority of her time working and hanging out with her friends. She meets a guy at her school, and soon becomes pregnant. Her decision to hide her pregnancy and the lengths she goes to while doing so take up the second half of the film. As good of a film as this was, I feel it really fell apart at the end. It wrapped everything up nicely, and denied the viewer the emotional payoff that the film promised. In the end, she did become 'Just another girl on the I.R.T.

FORREST136 This is a story of success and failure in the BIG CITY! Ariyan Johnson a talented actress shows what a strong black women really is! All of the performances are great! But it is Ms. Johnson that truly shines! After seeing her for a brief time on "The Steve Harvey Show" a few years back she has disappeared! Rent this film and get a real taste of life in the BIG CITY!*****