I just watched this as part of a national training for school psychologists. It was definitely too intense for tweens and any teenagers who may have experienced similar violence, bullying, and assault. There were some awkward acting moments somewhat related to the script and a possibly less experienced cast and crew.

If you look at what the movie was intended for (educating and persuading adults) you can overlook the flaws. It was much higher quality than a TV after-school special, but definitely lower budget. It should inspire all community members to advocate for more mental health services in schools. It also reminds us that bullying behavior is often complex and not a simple issue.

It would help if schools provided better supervision of ALL school areas and improve how they teach and encourage student bystanders to stand up to protect, or at least report what they hear and see. Sadly, we also have adult educators, administrators, and community members who are complicit in the bullying by their inappropriate language/behaviors, inaction or careless indifference.

I would recommend watching this and working in your community with your schools to effectively address the traumatic experiences of "hurt" children (victims and some bully-victims).

This movie is about the horrors of high school cliques. It gives insight into the bullying behind outbursts of not being able to take it one more second.

It's a great way to start a conversation with your kids.

Lesson learned: nobody has a perfect life, everyone is going through something and why it's so important to stand with the bullied kids.

It has guns and a scene of an attempted sexual assault, but it's thwarted before going anywhere. Be warned.

Overall, just talk to your kids. Their school lives may be very different from what you think.

Like many "issue films," this exploration of bullying and violence lacks subtlety and writer/director KT Curran is so close to the material there is no perspective. It's IN YOUR FACE.

A raft of young actors range from excellent to overwrought. Stereotypes exist for a reason, but that's no excuse to give in to them on film. There are the mean girls and the mean jock, and the mean gang... I got it, but Curran continues to hit me over the head with it.

Russel T. Davies is one of my favorite screenwriters. His trademark style is writing demonstrative scripts that don't require a ton of dialogue to describe what's going on. His guiding motto is "show it, don't say it." He figures out how interactions between characters telegraph the message, even if they're talking about a totally different topic.

Curran's film lacks such a relationship between characters. Every incidence of bullying is accompanied by mouthy put-downs. There is not a single moment of physical contact that isn't overlaid with dialogue.

The biggest problem with such a verbose approach is that everyone begins to sound alike. All of the two-dimensional mean kids sound alike. All of the bullied kids retreat into submission.

Then there are the adult characters. They don't seem reined-in, which is a director's job. The emotions are out-sized for the moments, almost as if these actors are auditioning and not acting as part of the director's vision.

In the end, the film is very well-intentioned, but exhausting. A few moments that could have had emotional resonance are steamrolled by non-stop dialogue.

There is no real "peak" in energy, because every bit of action is filmed so deliberately and the camera rarely steps back. It just comes off as shrill and demanding of attention, instead of intriguing and enticing.