Good intentions, but dull and predictable.

Higher Learning sells its soul (and its brain) for overwrought melodrama.

Despite some likable performances (Epps is especially winning), the drama in Higher Learning is constricted, hemmed in by Singleton's compulsion to view his characters as walking paradigms of racial and sexual politics.

Director John Singleton turns his focus to prestigious universities, asking pointed questions about how these institutions perpetuate, or at least turn a blind eye to, important social issues.