Formulaic teen romance with an MTV spin.

As teen melodrama, well, Carter's film is what it is; but for such a mainstream black-consciousness movie, at least it doesn't shy from addressing some touchy issues about masculinity, parenthood, and black attitudes to whites.

To the film's credit, it tries, and while it never really sings, it does deliver the dance.

This is a reflection of the early 2000s. If this was released now it would have been a mess but it does what it's supposed to, which is to give us fun dance scenes and slightly over-the-top performances. It's a decent film.