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TOE TO TOE manages to deal intelligently with two issues that are often handled sloppily in higher-budget films: teen angst and racial dynamics. The first subject is often handled superficially in movies, by never delving deeply into the demons of adolescence, perhaps because filmmakers are scared of asking teenage actors to make themselves too vulnerable, or perhaps because there's a sense that audiences aren't ready to see certain disturbing things, even if everyone knows that they are things that happen in a high school kid's every day life. As for racial dynamics, movies often end up having the opposite of their intended impact by portraying stereotypes instead of acknowledging the fact that the lines between different ethnicities aren't quite as clear-cut as those who don't like too think too hard would like them to be.
The film's opening scenes are a little bit weak and it may take a few minutes to get all the pieces together and understand the direction in which the film is headed. Those who turn off movies in the first 10 minutes if they don't like them will certainly miss out. Jesse (Louisa Krause) and Tosha (Sonequa Martin) go to the same high school and are on the lacrosse team together. Jesse is white and lives in an upper-class neighborhood, but of course, her life isn't as perfect as you'd assume it is. She hardly gets any attention from her mother, and her dad is nonexistent. Tosha is black and lives in what is described as a "thuggy" neighborhood (inhabited mostly by blacks and Hispanics), yet she seems to be doing everything in her power to break away from all possible stereotypes. As Tosha says, she goes to prep school to get away from her neighborhood, she gets As in math class because most girls don't, and she plays lacrosse because most black people don't.
What Jesse and Tosha DO have in common is that they are both frequently accused of "sluttiness" during the film. Tosha is mocked and called a "$2 whore" for absolutely no reason, but she tries to ignore the remarks and focus on her goal of getting a full scholarship to Princeton. Jesse, on the other hand, is another story... the accusations of "sluttiness" may still be mean, but they are far from fabricated, as Jesse gives blowjobs to a bunch of guys at school and isn't particularly careful about who she has sex with either. The strength of TOE TO TOE comes from how well it establishes this paralellism between two high school girls who, in attempting to break away from the stereotypes that each of them falls into, head in opposite directions and bump into each other along the way, forming a quasi-friendship that is far from the conventional bond that you see between teenagers in this type of film.
Tosha battles with her family and neighbors who get in the way of her attempt to get out of the "bad DC neighborhood" she is currently in, while Jesse tries to get the acceptance/love that she doesn't get from her mother by wallowing in what are obviously meaningless sexual interactions with boys at school. An event involving a slanderous remark that is written on someone's locker makes everything spin out of control, and it is here that the film seamlessly intertwines its treatment of teenage frustration and racial tensions, and does a particularly good job at it.
When a movie employs a few contrivances to reach its resolution yet never veers from being emotionally effective, the scale still tips in the movie's favor. The way in which some things are "cleared up" during the last act of TOE TO TOE is a little too convenient, yet none of it takes away from the film's dramatic resonance, especially in terms of Jesse's story. Her last-minute reflection of her debauchery and her plea to her mother at the end while she's getting in the cab make for heart-wrenching material. The movie's ending is hopeful and feels far from dishonest. TOE TO TOE explores two very interesting issues (never sacrificing the strength of one of them to focus on the other), and it also introduces us to two young actresses who have lots of potential.
6/10
