You'll be embarrassed, sad, happy then exhausted.

Has its inspiring moments - especially given the true story - and some tense, dramatic scenes amid the speedy montages of confusing gang action.

Despite solid work from the engaging cast, there's nothing new here to distinguish Freedom Writers as anything beyond a C+.

LaGravenese tends to simplify and lean on the melodrama but he tells the stories of the students with compassion, notably Eve (April Lee Hernandez), who has grown up in a war zone of an inner city defined by ethnic boundaries.