To me, this movie is perfection.

Sorry, this movie sucks

Excellent but underrated film

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Where do i start ? John Singleton's "Higher Learning" only achieves in his last sentence typed on the screen that reads: "unlearn". And that was the motto to his badly written script and only God knows why this was green-lighted. The stereotyped & 'cartoon-ish' characters & unreal situations were shameful even for the 1995 standards. All the white characters in this move are either evil or messed up, the black ones are all strong, intelligent like some sort of Martin Luther King's clones doing College. Performance-wise the badly directed cast can't do much more, because their characters & motivations were so underdeveloped & childish penned that could blush the "After School Special". I don't even know who is the worst of it, if Laurence Fishburne's irritating over the top acting with terrible accent; Omar Epps' funny facial faces during melodrama; Ice Cube & Busta just playing themselves or Jennifer Connelly's creepy acting like if she was in a Dario Argento flick. The only redeeming factors in the acting department was the excellent character actor, Michael Rapaport as the loner from Idaho which became a neo-nazi & the leader of the pack played by the always interesting & very underrated, Cole Hauser. The movie is full of symbolisms promoting race war and black superiority in the current day's society and add nothing to solve it or even give it a proper end. Some lead characters just disappears during the last half hour (most notorious absences are Ice Cube & Jennifer Connelly) and their sub-plots are left open, especially the underdeveloped love triangle between Kristy Swanson's lesbian relationship with Jen and that long-haired hippie fellow that i can't even remember the actor's name (Jason Willes, perhaps... ?) but... who cares ? The character played by Jay Fergusson 'rapes' Kristy Swanson, and then offends Regina King by phone calling her a "black bitch", next scene we watch the Ice Cube's gangsta gang invading an all white fraternity with dozens of students, catch Fergusson and forcing him to, not only ask for forgiveness, but also to say that the black ladies are the master race. Gimme a break, John Singleton !! And the skinheads vs. blacks' street brawl, four blacks including skinny doped Busta Rhymez take on and win the fight against five shaped skinheads, including one of them (the 6' 5½" Andrew Bryniarski) that alone could have K.O.'d all the blacks in less than a minute. This movie is downright unrealistic, stupid, racist and a waste of time. Please, do yourself a favor and avoid this at all costs.

The movie title is an accurate definition because it gives a lesson worthy of an university (and that should be taught before too!) In other words: the wise one doesn't follow opinions but formulate them. Thanks to Jen, i'm happy to have discover this challenging movie because so far I only knew the later « American History X » to diagnostic radically the racial question in America. In France, the so-called cradle of human rights, we are so afraid of this thematic that we don't do movies about this or when they exist, they can't get screens ! Here, freedom of expression allows to hear all opinions, bad as good. Sure, all the characters are stereotypes and the story is easily guessed but at least we have something to ponder! The choice for a campus is intelligent as we can follow different characters in a same location and it's indeed a special place : faraway from our families, we are on our own and we must affirm ourselves to find a path. For those like me who miss those years, this movie is great, all the more than we can discover what UCLA looks like. At last, Singleton is a talented and inspired director because he gives vibes, rhythm and soul to his story when others one sinks into sleeping, tedious lesson (see « the butler »).

I thought I would originally review John Singleton's Boyz N the Hood and Poetic Justice for Black History Month here on IMDb but I found out the YouTube uploads had some scenes blocked by Columbia Pictures. So instead I'm reviewing this one, Higher Learning, having just watched on Netflix Streaming. Taking place at Columbus University, it centers on three freshmen: Malik Williams (Omar Epps) who has a half scholarship on track, Kristen Connor (Kristy Swanson) a naive girl from a town near Disneyland, and Remy (Michael Rapaport) who finds himself alienated from the beginning. They all attend the class of one Professor Phipps (Lawrence Fishbourne) who believes in not doing anyone special favors. Malik is especially resentful of this since he thinks the teacher should "help a brother out". Eventually, they all have some kind of mentor outside of class: Malik with Fudge (Ice Cube) and Deja (Tyra Banks), Kristen with Taryn (Jennifer Connelly), and Remy with Scott Moss (Cole Hauser). Compelling characterizations all with many pertinent topics and situations worth exploring though I feel I have to discuss one really interesting one: after Kristen gets raped, roommate Monet (Regina King) gets a call from the one who did it trying to reach her but gets rebuffed. He doesn't take it well and calls Monet a "black bitch" which then switches the focus from Kristen's misery to Monet's appalled demeanor with the result of her bringing her like-skinned friends to go to his place to...well, you've probably figured what they would attempt to do. This was the most compelling part that explored how one doesn't watch what one says in the heat of the moment with consequences to pay the only option. In summary, Higher Learning is perhaps not a great film but it's very good in pushing one's buttons. So on that note, it's well worth seeing.

I won't argue with the fact that this is a great movie about racial tension, but I will argue with the fact that the Black Panthers are portrayed as better or more sympathetically than the Skinheads. Anyone that argues different is a victim of a false liberal bias. The fact is, for those of you who watch Higher Learning with an open mind to the facts of life, both sides of the conflict are portrayed as equally repugnant. Higher Learning makes a serious effort to take no sides in its portrayal of racism in America and it is an effort that pays off in spades. It is a solid piece of honest cinema and one with a valid point. Although, the film could have done without a half-hearted homage to the UT Austin tragedy. A movie of this caliber should have had a more original ending.