There are only a handful of actors in the movie. But all of the teenagers are very good. Those are played wonderfully by Emilio Estevez, Ally Sheedy, Molly Ringwald, Judd Nelson and Anthony Michael Hall. There is also the school's principal played by Paul Gleason which looks suspiciously like Ben Mendelsohn. And there's the janitor with the most wholesome serial-killer smile ever, played by John Kapelos. All these actors know what they are doing very well. And the acting in the movie is pretty much, I think, what holds it together. Because there isn't much else to see, to be honest.
In a way political argumentation is the game, that some people name the "4 dimensional chess". You have to assume the position of the opponent. You have to adjust to the ever-changing landscape. And you have to state your strategy carefully enough, so both the opponent could see what you are doing, like in chess, otherwise there will be accusations of ulterior motives, and in the same time, your moves and strategies have to be effective at persuading the opponent. Where the analogy with chess ends. Because at this point your strategy is to turn the opponent into an ally.