those six). Richard makes good on his promise to send Griff to college and is in a relationship with Victoria. Cast Jon Lovitz as Richard Clark, a naive, mild-mannered white teacher whose main goal is to help the underachieving students at Marion Barry High School succeed. Lovitz also plays his own mother. Tia Carrere as Victoria Chappell, the principal's assistant who sympathizes with Richard, as well as with the troubled students at Marion Barry High. Louise Fletcher as Principal Evelyn Doyle, a mean-spirited, uncaring principal who doesn't believe in the academic abilities of a single student at her school and has given up on them. She also takes an immediate dislike to Richard and believes that he will fail. Mekhi Phifer as Griff McReynolds, one of Clark's students. A former gang member who is one of the few students at Marion Barry High who aspires to graduate high school and attend college. Malinda Williams as Natalie Thompson, Griff's girlfriend who used to date Paco, Griff's one time gang partner-turned-nemesis. Guillermo Díaz as Paco de la Vega al Camino Cordoba Jose Cuervo Sanchez Rodriguez Jr., Griff's former gang partner. Brian Hooks as Anferny Jefferson, one of Clark's students. He is a slightly dimwitted gang member who only knows of urban pop culture. Natasha Gregson Wagner as Julie Rubels, one of Clark's students who is a teenage mother with many children. Marco Rodríguez as Mr. DeMarco, a gangster who is in the midst of a shady "business" deal with Paco and another mysterious gangster known as "Mr. A". John Neville as Thaddeus Clark, Richard's father. Lexie Bigham as Two-Bags, a member of Paco's gang. Gil Espinoza as Alonzo, a member of Paco's gang. Baoan Coleman as Mou Mou Bartender Release The film opened at #2 on the weekend of October 25, 1996, behind the film Sleepers. The film remained in the top 5 for the next two weekends. Reception The film received generally negative reviews upon its release. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 19% rating based on reviews from 16 critics, with an average rating of 4.3/10. On Metacritic, it has a score of 33 based on reviews from 10 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade B+ on scale of A to F. Roger Ebert gave the film 1 stars out of 4, and said "the movie makes two mistakes: (1) It isn't