This is a movie you've seen about a hundred times before.

Unlikely teacher takes over a bunch of troubled (but talented) kids and gives them self esteem and a reason to succeed. The script is cliched, the characters are so one dimensional they would seem stilted as cartoon characters, and the plot is predictable to the point of idiocy.

The only redeeming feature is an ok performance by Banderas, who is at least somewhat believable.

Oh yeah, and there is this scene....

I was dragged into this flick because nobody could agree on anything in the lineup at the multiplex. Perhaps because I had low expectations; and perhaps because Antonio Banderas is a way better actor than usually lands in these "well intentioned teacher battles the system to make a difference with dead-end kids" formulaic dramas; I was pleasantly surprised by the film.