Synopsis
After surviving a stabbing by a student, teacher Trevor Garfield moves from New York to Los Angeles. There, he resumes teaching as a substitute teacher. The education system, where violent bullies control the classrooms and the administration is afraid of lawsuits, slowly drives Garfield mad.
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Cast
- Samuel L. JacksonTrevor Garfield
- John HeardDave Childress
- Kelly RowanEllen Henry
- Clifton Collins Jr.Cesar Sanchez
- Tony PlanaPrincipal Garcia
- Karina ArroyaveRita Martinez
- Lobo SebastianBenny Chacon
- Jack KehlerLarry Hyland
- Jonah RooneyStevie Littleton
- Demetrius NavarroPaco
Recommendations
- 70
The New York Times
Genuinely disturbing in its vision of fearless students and powerless teachers locked in struggle. - 63
ReelViews
187 offers some thought-provoking ideas and several effective performances, but the script ultimately lets down both the actors and the audience members who are watching them. - 50
Chicago Sun-Times
At the end, I know, Trevor has come unhinged. I accept that and believe it. But it feels like the movie lost the nerve of its original story impulse and sought safety in elements borrowed from thrillers. Its destination doesn't have much to do with how it got there. - 50
San Francisco Chronicle
The movie was written by Scott Yagemann, who taught seven years in the Los Angeles public- school system, and you can feel the rancor and bitterness he still carries. - 50
The A.V. Club
Jackson's performance is impressive: He effectively conveys every nervous and belligerent nuance, but his character eventually disappears beneath a morass of gimmicks, clichés, and political cynicism. - 50
Variety
Artistically pretentious, thematically fuzzy and almost sinister in its deterministic view of the human condition, this unusually ambitious and serious-minded major studio release is simply too negative in every possible way to find a receptive audience. - 42
Entertainment Weekly
The prospect of a teacher driven to his students’ level of sociopathic vengeance might have packed a ghoulish wallop had the film viewed it as tragic. Reynolds, however, is just grinding out exploitation thrills. - 40
Rolling Stone
A ham-handed melodrama that trivializes an important topic: the role of the teacher in a violent classroom.
