8/10
A who-done-it mystery well acted but with an unpolished feel.
15 May 2003
I caught this movie on HBO Signature and almost turned it off after the first 10 minutes, but then I got caught up in some of the interesting performances of the actors. The movie is a not-so-surprising who-done-it involving a college girl who overdoses under suspicious circumstances surrounding her new bad-girl friends.

The plot line is solid though not hugely interesting or imaginative. What kept me watching this movie were the performances of Taye Diggs and Meredith Monroe. This is one of those movies where the characters could easily fall into cliche: black cop with an attitude in a rich college kid town; rich bitch girl who's daddy does not understand her.

Some of the credit might have to go to the scipt, but Taye Diggs is just great in putting a Gary-Cooper manner into his character of the Sheriff, giving him far more depth than you'd expect from this movie. It was impressive the way that the character was played as completely indifferent to the obvious racial juxtapositioning.

Meredith Monroe is absolutely terrific in this movie. I'd seen her before on Dawson's Creek and never would have suspected she could play a role as subtly brilliant as this one. She never overplays a role that has all the earmarks of a formula character. Monroe is enchanting here and I think she's going to be a star.

Some of the sex scenes seemed out of place in this movie. I don't understand the reason for all the girl-girl kissing and implied sex after the point was made that the central character was not what she seemed. (Other than the obvious, I mean.)

Overall, this movie was not a spell-binder or a must see, but it is absolutely worth watching just for the interesting character portrayals by Taye Diggs and Meredith Monroe.
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