I haven't met 1 person that I respect their film taste that has praised this film. It's not a great film, it's extremely cheesy and only saved by it's directing, soundtrack and cinematography. The acting is good and bad, the script is terrible and this is just another film in a long line of films that get tons of praise at the time and nobody gives a shit later (Little Miss Sunshine, Titanic, A Beautiful Mind). Ppl are trying to make this out to be the next City of God but in no way is this film anywhere close. It's a medicore film that ppl who rarely see FILMs (not Transformers) went and saw and were so amazed that it wasn't the same bullshit they've been feed all year and so they praise it as the greatest film of the year (some even ever) and it's sad.