Darren Stein's "Jawbreaker" is a mishmash of a bunch of different movies, including "Heathers", "Clueless" and "Very Bad Things". So why can't it add up to the sum of its parts? "Jawbreaker" is the story of a birthday prank gone wrong, when three girls fatally choke their friend with a jawbreaker. The three most popualr girls in school must then try to cover up their murder. However, instead of focusing on the case at hand, "Jawbreaker" needlessly tries to become a lesson in high school politics, and the characters carry on a lifestyle of excess(not unlike the characters in "Very Bad Things"). At times, "Jawbreaker" is sharp, but mostly it comes off as glib, derivative and uninviting. Needless to say, Rose McGowan is dead-on as the head bitch and Pam Grier is forceful as Detective Vera Cruz. "Jawbreaker" didn't really hit any mass audience in theatres, and no mass audience should seek it out on video.

Note: I know where Darren Stein went to high school, and it doesn't seem to me that he could have got many of his ideas from there.