On paper a routine sports yarn. On screen, thanks to Jackson refusing to phone it in, far more satisfying than you might expect.
Coach Carter (2005)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:141
Fresh:90
Rotten:51
Average Rating:6/10
Consensus: Like a good point guard, Samuel L. Jackson is the clear leader on the floor in a film that critics say transcends its formula trappings to be inspirational. However, some have said the film is too preachy and too long.
Rated: 12A [See Full Rating] for violence, sexual content, language, teen partying and some drug material.
Runtime: 2 hrs 16 mins
Genre: Dramas
Theatrical Release:25-02-2005
Synopsis: In the tradition of LEAN ON ME and DANGEROUS MINDS comes COACH CARTER, an inspirational drama starring Samuel L. Jackson. Jackson portrays real-life figure Ken Carter, who graduated from... In the tradition of LEAN ON ME and DANGEROUS MINDS comes COACH CARTER, an inspirational drama starring Samuel L. Jackson. Jackson portrays real-life figure Ken Carter, who graduated from California's Richmond High only to return there years later, in 1999, and take over as head coach of the boys' basketball team. Unfortunately, the troubled school he remembered as a teenager is an even more insufferable place in his adulthood. Determined to make a change in his players' lives, Carter makes each young man sign a contract that ensures he will maintain a 2.3 GPA, attend every class, and wear a jacket and tie on game day. Of course, the players reject the contract at first, but when they realize that they don't have any other choice, they give in. And when it appears that their tough-as-nails coach is actually turning them into winners on the court, they embrace their coach's philosophy even further. But when Coach Carter receives the incomprehensibly awful progress reports of his players, he does the unthinkable: he benches the entire team. Directed by Thomas Carter (SAVE THE LAST DANCE), COACH CARTER is a sensitive drama that features an impassioned performance by Jackson, as well as the impressive young cast (most notably Rob Brown, Rick Gonzalez, and Robert Ri'Chard). [More]
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Ri'chard, Rob Brown, Debbi Morgan
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Ri'chard, Rob Brown, Debbi Morgan, Ashanti, Antwon Tanner, Ramsey Gbelawoe
Director: Thomas Carter
Director: Thomas Carter
Screenwriter: Mark Schwahn, John Gatins
Producer: Brian Robbins, Mike Tollin, David Gale
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Reviews for Coach Carter
Entertaining ... but you do wish they'd tell the tale without funnelling it through Hollywood's inspirational movie assembly line.
Over long and deeply manipulative, Coach Carter should nonetheless be praised for its far-from-fashionable celebration of personal advancement through academic achievement.
Although this is an inspirational genre pic that pushes all the requisite buttons throughout, you can’t help but feel that rather than benching the team, director Thomas Carter should have benched a few of those ham-fisted sporting clichés instead.
[Jackson] is, of course, born to shout things at teenagers on basketball courts and he delivers all the time-honoured usual speeches with his customary brilliance
Samuel L. Jackson, who has pretty much been swaggering through recent roles, straightens up and brings a steely, dignified strength to the title role.
Far from groundbreaking--in fact, it doesn't have an original bone in its body--but as inspirational sports movies go, it's not half-bad.
For all Coach Carter's moralizing, it is an eminently palatable drama, and Samuel L. Jackson -- who has certainly been known to take nobility to the nth degree -- is first-rate as Carter.
Inspirational, laden with tough love, and on occasion a tad hokey. Stand and Deliver on the basketball court.
It qualifies its thrill of victory with a very sober message: few high school athletes become NBA millionaires, many are cheated out of an education.
As the film grinds on, without any actual actors to work against, Jackson starts to look marooned and eventually seems to give up trying.
The main problem with Coach Carter can be summed up simply: too much sermonizing.
The kind of boot-strap-pulling, tear-duct-tickling, I-am-Spartacus-crowing movie-on-a-mission that might rankle more cynical movie goers but sets hearts aflutter for most everyone else.
The inspirational tale becomes just another by-the-numbers, cliché-ridden sports film.
Too vicious to speak to bleeding-heart liberals, too pro-academia to speak to No Child Left Behind advocates, and too preachy to speak to youths.
Clearly there was a publicity hound somewhere inside the coach when he made his lockout a TV spectacle, but the movie avoids any such interesting shadows.
Filled with cliches, a run-of-the-mill screenplay and the groan-inducing MTV Films formula.
[Carter's] selfless actions against a failed education system register even when the movie surrounding him turns on itself.
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