Kidulthood (15) <!-- none onestar twostar threestar fourstar fivestar -->

Grange Hill for the happy-slapping generation. When a schoolgirl at a Notting Hill comp hangs herself after being viciously bullied, her classmates have the day off to ponder the implications - or else steal drugs, prostitute themselves, beat each other up and stuff their faces with fast food.

Noel Clarke's screenplay is a belated answer to Larry Clark's Kids, and while director Menhaj Huda catches a certain rawness in the London location shooting he gives his young cast way too much rope and his storyline way too little nuance.

Some will argue that it captures the authentic voice of youth (or something like) but I seriously wonder how representative this lot are: if petulance, coarseness, disloyalty, Ali G-style affectedness of language and utter lack of style are the norm, then we're really in trouble.