A gripping drama, Detachment offers a gut-wrenching look at the school system, as told by the unsung heroes--the teachers.

Detachment has such original energy and is so infused with righteous anger that it proves hard to dismiss.

Grappling with the dilapidation of America's school system is fair enough, but the movie is painfully undone by its pretentious poetry of despair.

Detachment clearly has high aspirations, but unfortunately its jumbled narration means that it falls just shy of the mark.