Light It Up

Call this one Breakfast Club In the 'hood. Six inner-city kids, comprising a politically correct cross-section of race, gender, and culture, barricade themselves in their beloved institution of education and take a hostage (Forest Whitaker) when a deaf-ear principal and poor schooling conditions push them to the brink after the resident cool teacher (Judd Nelson) is fired. When the kids demand to know why, an armed standoff with police ensues.

Light It Up sets forth an admirable agenda dealing with the plight of urban education, the bane of stereotyping, and the panacea of "Can't we all just get along?" But it bogs down in contrived melodramatic minutiae, and most of its rainbow coalition cast come off as caricatures. There's the bad-ass hood, the beauty with brains, the slacker punk, and the merchandiser. Only the pistol-wielding point guard (Usher Raymond) whose father was wrongfully shot by police and the abused son (Robert Ri'chard) who's afraid to go home actually illuminate the screen. Light It Up throws off a lot of smoke, but there's no fire. At the Holiday and Showcase cinemas.
-- Tom Meek