Debate with me all you want, but this is actually a half-way decent movie. True, it will never win any awards, but it passes the time amicably enough.

Is it a satirical film? If the beginning is dynamic (but cliché), it quickly becomes absurd. If the girl comes from a poor family, how come she goes to the same high school as the rich guy, when the school seems to be a private high school for the wealthy? I'm not American, but I think we're a long way from high school standards. The debates are actually fast-talking competitions. We find ourselves in the same situation as the twins (who, incidentally, disappear without having any real place in the scenario): we understand nothing of the debate mechanism. Nor do we understand why the characters should put so much pressure on themselves when, on the one hand, they've set up the debate club just to fill out their résumé and, on the other hand, they've already applied to college. It's only in the middle of the film that things get a bit more normal. However, during the debates, Jasmine and Dana (the ones who go against the grain, i.e. the ones who actually debate) could be the main characters. So we have the strange feeling of watching the movie of the secondary characters. The ending is a kind of _deus ex machina_ happy ending. Overall, a very average film.

It started out being awful but ended being kinda nice? The only thing I didn't like was that, glaringly conveniently, the prep school kids had to defend the affirmative, while the public school girls had to defend the negative. Like, what if their sides had been reversed? Debating shouldn't be about defending your personal opinion based on your life experience. Also, Lona was totally not a privileged kid. She even could only afford to go to the prep school because she had a full scholarship. She could have easily refuted all the arguments the others girls made about non-rich kids not being able to afford a nice college. And I know not every single person who deserves it would get a full ride, because that simply isn't realistic. But the argument could be made, that if you put in the work, the possibility certainly exists. Thankfully, in my country we don't have this problem, cause the top universities are all free. We have tons pf other problems, but if you don't go to college it's mainly because you don't want to, not because you can't afford to.