This ambitious 1995 film by John Singleton (Boyz N the Hood) doesn't quite succeed at painting the illuminating; collective portrait of college life in the '90s that the director seeks. But Singleton does do a fine job of defining some conflicting impulses for young people on the cusp of adulthood; particularly the desire to broaden horizons on the one hand and circle the wagons with like-minded allies on the other. Students in the film's Columbus University divide themselves along lines of race; sexual preferences; ideology; and; most dangerously; levels of paranoia. Among the fine cast is Michael Rapaport; who portrays a loner drawn to a local community of neo-Nazis. His resultant problems with the school's African-Americans takes over the story at the expense of other; parallel dramas; but Singleton's insights into race hatred on campus--a microcosm of the surrounding culture--is not to be dismissed. --Tom Keogh