Entertainment

We The Party

A good-natured high school dramedy that borrows from many others, “We the Party” alternates cheerful homilies about the importance of staying in school with standard party scenes, talk about losing one’s virginity and urgent prom preparations.

Mario Van Peebles wrote and directed this trifle, centered on a mostly black, mostly wealthy high school in LA where interchangeably likable students tease each other, put on concerts and talk about going to college.

The script suffers from blandness and aimlessness, but most of the cast (headed by the director’s son Mandela, who co-stars with several of his siblings, all of whom helped inspire the project) is appealing enough, as is the director himself, who plays a sensitive teacher.