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It’s easy to assume that ATL, the new movie from music-video superdirector Chris Robinson, is just another semiannual Boyz N the Hood remake. Like many other flicks about young black dudes coming of age/looking for something to believe in/trying to survive in the ghetto blah blah blah, ATL features rappers—a surprisingly impressive Tip “T.I.” Harris and a damn dastardly Antwan Andre Patton, aka Big Boi of OutKast fame, whose villain character Marcus is as menacing as he is charismatic—and a cautionary showing of drug dealing, the violence and jail that come along with it, and a head-bopping soundtrack. The comparison ends there, though. Robinson’s artful eye creates colorful, unique visual sequences not totally unlike his music videos, along with strong, often funny portrayals of high-school life that transcend the norm. Super senior Teddy (Drumline’s Jason Weaver), the hard-working brainiac Esquire (a scene-stealing Jackie Long), and Anton (newcomer Evan Ross Naess), a kid who wants nothing more than to live the life of a big-pocketed thug, all come together for an entertaining and energetic combination of drama, comedy, and good, old-fashioned high-school angst set against the sticky, sunny, and crunk backdrop that is Hotlanta.