Metacritic-Rezensionen

The kids are magnetic.

One of the main explanations for our country’s inner-city high-school dropout rate is that public education doesn’t teach skills applicable to life outside the classroom. Director Mary Mazzio’s film, part documentary and part public-service announcement, offers a plausible alternative, which may prompt a discussion of totally revamping standard curriculum.

It’s the type of film you might expect to see at a fund-raising dinner or a convention banquet, not in a commercial theater. That said, it’s a very well-made piece of boosterism.

Like "Art & Copy," Ten9Eight is blindingly slick, with a glossy visual aesthetic more rooted in music videos and commercials than cinéma vérité.

If Ten9Eight brings NFTE to the attention of you, your child, or your school administrator, that’s probably all that matters.

Spending more observational time with her smart, resilient and stirringly positive subjects -- even seeing less-edited footage of their business plan speeches -- might have helped sell her inspirational story.

Less weird than "Spellbound" and less fun than your average episode of "America's Top Model," Ten9Eight shoots for the moon, but scans like the background noise at a philanthropic retreat.

A glorified informercial, complete with enough blandly upbeat guitar-cues to power all 22 seasons of "Real World" intros.