''Home Room'' is an

independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is produced outside the major film studio system, in addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies (or, i ...

starring

Erika Christensen Erika Jane Christensen (born August 19, 1982) is an American actress and singer whose filmography includes roles in ''Traffic'' (2000), '' Swimfan'' (2002), ''The Banger Sisters'' (2002), ''The Perfect Score'' (2004), ''Flightplan'' (2005), '' ...

Busy Philipps Elizabeth Jean "Busy" Philipps (born June 25, 1979) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles on the television series ''Freaks and Geeks'' (1999–2000), ''Dawson's Creek'' (2001–2003), ''Love, Inc.'' (2005–2006) and '' ER'' ...

and

Victor Garber Victor Joseph Garber (born March 16, 1949) is a Canadian-American actor and singer. Known for his work in film, television, and theatre, he has been nominated for three Gemini Awards, four Tony Awards, and six Primetime Emmy Awards. He has also ...

. It premiered in the

Taos Talking Pictures Film Festival Taos Talking Pictures was a non-profit corporation registered with the State of New Mexico in 1994 by actor Joshua Bryant, Phillip Kirk, and attorney Stephen Rose for the purpose of producing The Taos Talking Picture Festival, which premiered in Apr ...

on 12 April 2002, and made its limited theatrical release on 5 September 2003.

Plot

school massacre A school shooting is an attack at an educational institution, such as a primary school, secondary school, high school or university, involving the use of firearms. Many school shootings are also categorized as mass shootings due to multiple ...

leaves seven students and the shooters parents dead and one student named Deanna Cartwright (Christensen) seriously injured. The shooter himself is dead, shot by police during the confrontation after the actual shooting, and the only witness (and possible suspect) is Alicia Browning (Philipps), a

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

student who is now under the attention of the detective in charge of the case, Det. Martin Van Zandt (Garber). The school principal asks Alicia to visit Deanna in the hospital. Right away, their differences are evident. Alicia is an outsider from a single-parent family who shuns the society that similarly shuns her, while Deanna is from a wealthy family, gets good grades and is popular with her classmates. At first, Deanna seems upbeat and cheerful, but soon it becomes apparent that beneath this exterior are psychological scars left behind by the incident. Alicia starts to empathize with her, as she herself is battling her own demons as well, including a previous

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...

attempt. Through these similar emotional bonds, the two form an unlikely friendship as they both try to cope with their separate psychological problems.

Cast

as Alicia Browning *

as Deanna Cartwright *

as Det. Martin Van Zandt *

Raphael Sbarge Raphael Sbarge (born February 12, 1964) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Jake Straka on ''The Guardian'' (2001–04), Jiminy Cricket / Dr. Archibald Hopper on ''Once Upon a Time'' (2011–18) and Insp ...

as Det. Macready *

Ken Jenkins Ken Jenkins (born August 28, 1940) is an American actor, best known for his role as Dr. Bob Kelso, the chief of medicine on the American comedy series '' Scrubs'' (2001–2009). He has also had notable appearances in many popular TV shows. Ea ...

as Police Captain *

Holland Taylor Holland Virginia Taylor (born January 14, 1943) is an American actress. She won the 1999 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Judge Roberta Kittleson on ABC's ''The Practice'' (1998–2003). F ...

as Dr. Hollander * Arthur Taxier as Mr. Browning *

James Pickens Jr. James Pickens Jr. (born October 26, 1954) is an American actor. He is best known for his starring role as Dr. Richard Webber on the ABC medical drama television series ''Grey's Anatomy'', and for his supporting role as Deputy Director Alvin Kers ...

as Principal Robbins *

Constance Zimmer Constance Zimmer (born October 11, 1970) is an American actress. She rose to prominence for playing Dana Gordon in the television series '' Entourage'' (2005–2011) and Claire Simms in the television series ''Boston Legal'' (2006–2007). Sh ...

as Assistant Kelly *

Richard Gilliland Richard Gilliland (January 23, 1950 – March 18, 2021) was an American television and movie actor, best known as JD Shackleford in ''Designing Women'' (1986–1992). Life and career Gilliland was born in Fort Worth, Texas. He attended high sc ...

as Mr. Cartwright *

Roxanne Hart Roxanne Hart (born July 27, 1952) is an American actress, best known for her roles as Brenda Wyatt in the 1986 film '' Highlander'', and as Nurse Camille Shutt on the CBS medical drama series ''Chicago Hope'' (1994–1998). Hart has also received ...

as Mrs. Cartwright

''Home Room'' and Columbine

Even though he started writing the script before the event, director Paul F. Ryan later based the film on the

Columbine High School massacre On April 20, 1999, a school shooting and attempted bombing occurred at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado, United States. The perpetrators, 12th grade students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, murdered 12 students and one teacher. ...

; the film was released only three years after the incident. Ryan and Christensen visited

Columbine High School Columbine High School (CHS) is a public high school in Columbine, Colorado, United States, in the Denver metropolitan area. It is part of the Jefferson County Public Schools district. In 1999, it became the scene of an infamous mass shooti ...

before the film's release to speak to students, faculty and parents, who received a private screening of the film. The response was generally positive and Ryan has since returned as a guest of the school twice. While a large part of the public wishes to figure out why such massacres happen, some have lauded ''Home Room'' simply for not explaining why they happen; the film does not place blame on violent

video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

movies A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

, and concludes that finding a single reason for these events is impossible. In addition, the film focuses on what happens to the community long after the news crews have left. In an interview, Ryan explains, "What changed my mind was watching what happened in Littleton afterwards.

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

reported the story for about two weeks, then left. The rest of America moved on, but the people in Littleton didn’t. How do you start living your life again after such a terrible thing?"

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 55%, based on 22 reviews, with an

average rating In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

of 5.6/10. The site's critics consensus reads "Honorable intentions and some strong performances aren't enough to keep Home Room from occasionally slipping into distractingly didactic messaging". On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film holds 43 out of a 100 based on 10 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

*
Official production company site for the film
*{{IMDb title, 0264689 American independent films Works about the Columbine High School massacre Films about school violence 2002 drama films American drama films 2002 independent films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films