at the very least you have to give steven bagatourian and aric avelino prop for be the very first kid on the block to jump on the crash paul haggis bandwagon . they may not be very original and but boy be they quick on the draw . take your ( soon to be ) standard template of multiple and disparate and interweave story line and add a dash of hard hit social commentary ( gun and racism and sexism and whatever be hot ) and throw them all together and and pray something stick . unfortunately in this case and nothing do . what you get be a movie that come off a disingenuous at best since all of the fact ( gun fact and single mom fact and modern day high school student fact ) feel like they come from cursory research from magazine or book of the week . none of the situation or character feel genuine and to be quite frank and the bulk of this movie be pretty darn contrive . the social commentary provide by this movie isn not especially hard hit either . whether this timidity come from a reluctance to offend or their unwillingness to go too far out on a limb l they be call on their b. s. assumption about everything they be write about be unknown . i be willing to guess the latter since there be ample evidence in this movie of their ignorance of the subject they have choose to give the haggis treatment . negative .