I really wanted to like this story and was willing to suspend disbelief but this film just had too many continuity/believability problems to allow that for long.
The two leads are both attractive young men and it was fun watching their friendship form. It was also fun watching the inter-relationships between the other boys but I kept getting distracted by just how unlikely the plot devices were. Also, the next time a head master of a distinguished private school is giving a speech and the best literary reference that he can make in his speech is a lame reference to Great Expectations perhaps the head master's speech should be written out.
Before watching this I'd recommend School Ties (1992) or Dead Poets Society (1989) or The Emperor's Club (2002) or even A Separate Peace (2004) (TV) All have much more convincing plot lines than this.
In two separate spots the "villain" is about to be lurking just around the corner when something saves him. The villain is looking for one kid on a list of about 8 and the kid we KNOW he's looking for keeps making obvious mistakes that would clue in anyone who was really looking in a heartbeat. e.g. claiming to be from Tampa and not knowing whether its on the Atlantic or the Gulf. It also bothered me how dyslexia was tossed about as a plot point without any real understanding or compassion.
The actors did great with what they had to work with but this could have really used at least one more script revision before it got shot.