This film suffers from rehashing territory that has been done b3fore in films but where it succeeds is in representing those topics is complex and realistic ways. I had some problems with this film, especially with its handling of race but some of the criticisms are unwarranted. First off, this film isn't a good girl gone bad film. If you watch carefully, you'll notice that the lead character was having problems before she met the troubled child. At home a caring but flawed mother was not necessarily representing the perfect example herself. Her father isn't around or caring and they aren't necessarily doing well financially. None of these things are excuses for her actions but it does explain why she rebelled externally so fast. She was rebelling internally for awhile with the cuttings, which I also believe was happening before she went downhill. The secondary character was nothing but a mirror negative representation of herself with one big difference. In her downhill spiral, what she finds out is that unlike her counterpart, her actions have consequences. The last scenes show this as she starts to realize that she may fail school , lose the respect of her brother, as well as losing neighbors and friends of whom she has grown accustomed to. On top of all of that, the friend she thought she had , was betraying her little by little in order to keep her status quo. Her friend is able to not deal with consequences because of the way she manipulates every situation. Secondly I read some criticisms about this film not being realistic. I actually found it to be the opposite. As a matter of fact, I think this film foreshadowed the issues that are extremely prevalent in today's society, some 16 years later.
