Higher Learning

good acting, bad script...this film attempted to cover every issue of a controversial nature that one might experience in college...problem is the film's too short to effectively and realistically explore and resolve these issues (if he had his heart set on making a film about racism, lesbianism, rape, and interracial conformity then perhaps Singleton might have wanted to invest in a cable mini-series) and for this what we got was a mix of stereotypes/cliches that made this too predictable and, at times, ridiculous to watch. Nevertheless, great acting from Epps, Rappaport and Fishburne.

I must have been watching a different movie to most of the people adding comments. I didn't see it as a film portraying African Americans as good and whites as bad but as a film in which all the factions were shown to have good and bad sides. Even the guy who becomes the Nazi skinhead was portrayed sympathetically in as much as he is clearly out of his depth in a social situation and becomes a recruit because only the skinheads will accept him when no-one else will. Overall, the African Americans come out as the most sympathetic but not by much.

I agree there are some fairly silly stereotypes, especially Fishburne's character, but they work in the context of the movie. Most refreshing was the fact that an American college is portrayed as a place with real issues like racism and date rape and drunken behaviour. It's refreshing because colleges are usually shown as places where nice middle-class kids never have any problem bigger than being dumped by their boyfriends before everything is resolved in the last reel.

An overly maligned movie. Not perfect but better than a million other college movies. Loved the ending too.

Hard to believe the extremes of the reviews of this film. It's either genius or crap. I found it somewhere in between, and I have to say I enjoyed it, owing mostly to Omar Epps. I believe he's one of the best actors in America right now, and his performance in this movie really made it watchable as far as I'm concerned. Many of the characters were not developed well, and were two-dimensional at best. Rappaport's character, and in fact all the white supremacists, were mere cut-outs and actually painful to watch. I didn't get the good guy/bad guy (name your race -- I think it depends on who's reviewing) theme at all. I think Epps was the protagonist and naturally he was shown in a better light than most of the other characters, black or white. There was some intelligent dialog and some inane dialog. However, it was overall an interesting film and I'm glad I saw it. Not perfect by any means, and with its share of clichés, but a good film nonetheless.

I wish Singleton would keep his obvious bias racially feelings out of his movies and just make a movie that's real, instead of this laughable, trite garbage.

Example: In the movie 'Boyz In The Hood', Laurence Fishburne is giving a speech to his son and son's buddy and says "Why do you think there's a liquor store and gun store on every single corner in black neighborhoods? I'll tell you why. Because they want us to kill ourselvs." Yes, I can see how movies with black people suggesting evil white people are conspiring to kill all black people by "making them kill each other" will advance race relations.

As for Higher Learning, I think the title should have been shortened to 'High'. One must be very high to watch a movie like this and feel 'enlightened' by the end of the movie.

Let's see, basically all white males in this movie are either one of two things: Very bad or very weak. All black people are either cool, heroic, intelligent or victims.

Whites in this movie: The evil racist campus security, the evil white jock rapist, the weak white hippy who tries his hardest to understand Malik but Malik turns him down, the weak Jewish roommate who shits his pants like a little girl when Remmy pulls a gun on him, yet Malik plays it cool of course, and of course the oh so very evil and BAAAAD nazi skinheads! Oh yes, nazi skinheads are just killing black people daily in college campuses and all over the country. And of course the skinheads are very weak and stupid like Remmy.

Blacks in the movie: Laurence Fishurne as a wise professor, the strong black woman "I don't take no buuuulllshit" roommate, Ice Cube's cool street smart character, Malik's "struggle" to find himself in an evil white man's world, Tyra Bank's intelligent character who becomes a victim, Busta' Rhymes beating up two skinheads at one time etc etc.

What a bunch of laughable and ridiculous clichés. Singleton definitely has a chip on his shoulder when it comes to white people. This movie was every bit as racist as any pro nazi skinhead documentary. Worst movie ever made.

After seeing this film I can't help but wonder what the screenwriting process was for Singleton. Higher Learning is a movie with every cliche I can imagine; really very pathetic. Higher Learning is good for one reason, it forces you to think about racial issues if you hadn't already, but once the glimmer of the racially just manifesto you created wears off, you realize what a load of crap this movie was. Acting was good, even Tyra Banks, who I wasn't expecting anything from, didn't make me want to gouge my eyes out. The story is, as I mentioned, cliche. It's not so bad that you should demand the money back from Blockbuster but if you really want to see a "racially profound" film, choose something else.