Pic is populated by profoundly unrewarding characters doing and saying utterly uninteresting things.

A well-intentioned study of high-school kids coping (and not coping) with the pressures of adolescence, its naturalistic style only makes the more overt dramatic elements look forced and clichd.

The implacable earnestness laid on by the script, which it took three people to put together, is not relieved by the nonstop songs, from rock-and-roll to Gilbert and Sullivan.

Reeves' performance in this early film really sets the tone for the vulnerable emotionality he would bring to the rest of his career.