A rather bland film with various strong points. First off, the pretty pictures of the posh side of New York are nice to watch. Dominique Swain is not a great actress, but still in every film she displays an attractive cuteness, and beside her there are plenty more pretty schoolgirls to be enjoyed (some of them even went on to do more well-known stuff). The late Brad Renfro plays another troubled teen, and even funny man Scott Thompson pops up in a serious role. Then there are quite a few elements in the story that make for some spicy drama-ingredients, that might well have really worked...

But as I said before, there is a blandness to all of it that keeps me from going really under in this teen tale of... well, teen stuff gone bad, basically. It does have its moments, and at those moments that blandness has a sort of stilled quality to it, but it altogether stays unconvincing. And then the voice-over... pretty much totally unnecessary, sounding much like 'dear diary'-entries.

5 out of 10, and that's me being generous.

The screenplay for "Tart" had the feel of the writer's personal experience growing up among the New York elite and attending a posh prep school. Unfortunately, the experience was depressing from the perspective of the protagonist Cat Storm, as well as the audience.

The most interesting character in the film was Cat's best friend, Delilah Milford. She is set apart from the other students because of her fiercely independent streak. But by the midpoint, Delilah had essentially dropped out of the film that begins to explore Cat's romantic involvement with young William Sellers.

It turns out that William is a complete phony, a middle-class boy pretending to be part of New York's finest. The saddest scene was the completely unnecessary murder of Delilah by William at the moment that the feisty Delilah was prepared to unmask him.

Ironically, Delilah came from the wealthiest stock of New York and stood to be the heir of a fortune. Yet, she saw through the pretense of the social climbers and the superficial in-crowd. In the end, this sad about tale misguided youngsters coming of age was a real downer.

Some girls just wanna have fun. Some girls just want some attention. Christina Wayne writes and directs this gritty drama that indirectly ends a small-time, but expensive crime wave. Cat Storm(Dominique Swain is an attractive teen that craves more attention, love and respect than she is getting. Her best friend Delilah(Bijou Phillips)is expelled from an all-girls private school. Cat becomes infatuated with a boy that gathers before school at the same corner every morning. She finally gets William(Brad Renfro)to notice her; and he tries to initiate her to the rich set with its drugs and sex. Ms. Storm goes from outcast to being just tolerated. The handsome William is popular and easy to create trouble, which seems overlooked for he seems stinking wealthy...but no one seems to know how he comes about his money. Not actually a coming-of-age flick; but a look at how wealth influences teen behaviors. Also starring: Mischa Barton, Lacey Chabert, Jacob Pitts, Michael Murphy, Alberta Watson and Nora Zehetner, who I found the most impressive of the cast.