The only bright spot in the movie is that Helen Hunt, Christina Hendricks and Uzo Aduba act very well in it. But the script isn't very good, and the message is very muddled. During the debate tournaments, they debate the question, is college worth it; turns out, the writer and director of this movie don't know the answer to that, and don't even try to adequately face it. The same thing with the emotional, anecdotal sanctimonious speeches about race, poverty, and privilege. Is the message of the movie that debates should not be technical fact-based sporting events? This isn't a question of a movie posing a challenging question that doesn't have easy answers; but rather a movie that seems to be saying one thing, and then suddenly saying the opposite in the third act, but without committing to anything anyway. You can easily decide to skip this one. You won't miss a thing.
