The critic consesnsus is: Strong lead performances and catchy musical interludes rescue this coming-of-age story from its formulaic script and uneven direction.. What reviews supported this critic consensus?
1. Here's the kind of movie that filmmakers should develop more often: It's an urban movie about teen-agers FOR teen-agers. And I hope that teen-agers and adults from all walks of life see "ATL," because it's both gritty and good-hearted.
2. ATL This is kind of film that sends all the politically correct signals to its target audience, and does it rather well.
3. A thoroughly convincing portrait of black teens in Atlanta, ATL has the same broad range of laughs and fears as Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
4. It feels like a real window on the lives of disenfranchised youths -- these are in South Atlanta -- as they make their way in a society that doesn't cut them any breaks.
5. Ultimately, ATL is the same old teenager angst in a mildly novel package.
6. A good message isn't enough to justify a $10 ticket. You also need a good movie.
7. Really, ATL -- like last year's Roll Bounce -- is about roller skating.
8. The second half is clumsier than the first, and you get the impression that the studio rushed to cut things that hadn't worked in last fall's kids-skating flop and play up the Boyz aspects of the routine moral-dilemma plot.
9. As clich?mount, realism and make-believe jostle against one another more discordantly.
10. ATL is a likable film with an affirmative and hopeful message about the fate of its main players.