Light It Up sets forth an admirable agenda dealing with the plight of urban education, the bane of stereotyping, and the panacea of "Can't we all just get along?" But it bogs down in contrived melodramatic minutiae, and most of its rainbow coalition cast come off as caricatures. There's the bad-ass hood, the beauty with brains, the slacker punk, and the merchandiser. Only the pistol-wielding point guard (Usher Raymond) whose father was wrongfully shot by police and the abused son (Robert Ri'chard) who's afraid to go home actually illuminate the screen. Light It Up throws off a lot of smoke, but there's no fire.