Maybe it's something in the water.

Freedom Writers Credit: Paramount Pictures

Freedom Writers is the third genre film in about as many weeks to transcend its inherent limitations. As did The Pursuit of Happyness and We Are Marshall, it infuses new energy into a timeworn formula. And like them, it's based on a true story.

This time, it's the one about the Bad Students in the Bad School in the Bad Area who are transformed by the Inspirational Teacher. In this version, she's named Erin Gruwell, and she's played with an unflagging determination, ingenuity and enthusiasm by double-Oscar winner Hilary Swank (who also produced).

Erin arrives for her first day at Wilson High School in Long Beach wearing polka dots and pearls and carrying a sheath of lesson plans. Longtime teacher Margaret Campbell (Imelda Staunton) sweetly listens to the newbie's breathless blabbering about the exciting integration program (which, as far as the veteran faculty is concerned, ruined their school) without strangling her. But she does coo poisonously, "Those are lovely pearls, Erin. [Smile.] I wouldn't wear them to class."

Freedom Writers Credit: Paramount Pictures

Class is a euphemism at best. While the honors program is conducted in a freshly painted room with chairs in neat little rows, Erin's post is pure chaos --- from the battered chairs and chalkboard to the beyond-battered kids. These teens figure they've had a good day if they make it home alive. A firecracker named Eva (April Lee Hernandez) bluntly asks, "What are you doing in here that would make a difference in my life?"