Rent Higher Learning (1995)

Hard to Fault the Syllabus - Higher Learning review by griggs

Freshman year crams every American problem into one term. John Singleton hands out race, class, gender, sexuality and extremism like a reading list, and it's hard to fault the syllabus. Trouble is, everyone reads it aloud.

The opening works best. Omar Epps plays Malik with a bruised pride the script forgot to write, and Michael Rapaport makes Remy's slide into hatred look pitiful before it turns dangerous. A skinhead crew offers his resentment a costume, and it fits. Laurence Fishburne turns up as Professor Exposition and sells speeches that deserve a red pen.

Nobody gets to just exist, and every social problem lives on the same corridor. Singleton's anger is justified, though sometimes the volume does the arguing. Kristy Swanson gives Kristen a pulse, but the next big subject keeps swallowing the fallout from her assault.

Shock and tragedy kick the door in at the end. Some of it lands, though the hammer marks show. I'm glad I saw it once. Higher Learning passes the module, but only after arguing with the examiner.