Pride wades into the shallows when it ought to be diving into the deep end. In waters this familiar, everyone knows how to swim.
Comment
03/23/07
Pride (2007)
46
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:104
Fresh:48
Rotten:56
Average Rating:5.5/10
Consensus: Pride features a typically stellar performance from Terrence Howard, but ultimately falls victim to its over usage of sports movie clichés.
Runtime: 1 hr 49 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: Based on true events, Lionsgate's PRIDE tells the inspiring story of Jim Ellis, a charismatic schoolteacher in the 1970s who changed lives forever when he founded an African-American swim team in... [More]
Starring: Terrence Howard, Bernie Mac, Kimberly Elise, Tom Arnold
Director: Sunu Gonera
Reviews for Pride
Top CriticI've come to realize that while I enter every sports movie with a great amount of disdain, I always come out feeling inspired. So it's time I grudgingly admit that I'm a sucker for this genre.
03/23/07
Maybe this really happened, but Gonera lacks the skill to make it seem real within the context of a fictional movie.
03/22/07
The trouble with Pride is that it sticks so close to the sports-movie playbook that it never comes alive.
03/23/07
Feel-good swimming flick takes on racism.
10/31/07
An inspirational tale of a real-life underdog triumph hacked down into the familiar shape of a rousing Hollywood feel-good film...
03/22/07
"Pride" is just another in a long list of true-life inspirational sports movies that offers absolutely nothing new, borrowing every maudlin cliché from "Brain's Song" to "Remember the Titans."
03/23/07
First-time director Sunu Gonera and cinematographer Matthew F. Leonetti's strong visuals save this otherwise formulaic undertaking from being interchangeable inspirational film.
03/23/07
Maybe because it focused on swimming, and didn't really capture the drama of the sport, it came off like a TV movie. It even borrowed from Dead Poets Society with an 'Oh Captain, My Captain' moment.
03/03/08
Directed by Zimbabwean-born Sunu Gonera, who seems fascinated with 1970s American 'ghetto' atmosphere; he overdoses viewers on afros, hoop earrings and graffiti, which at least keeps the movie watchable.
06/19/07
Despite the stale odor of the broth, lack of originality isn't Pride's stumbling point -- it's that the familiar story is not well presented.
03/23/07
There's no excuse for Pride's mediocrity -- not with this story, not with this cast.
03/23/07
Pride has a sly, sexy way of overcoming inherent filmmaking clichés and winning over its audience.
03/23/07
Clearly, the real Jim Ellis pulled off a miracle. Too bad, then, that this film about him feels phony, full of clichés and bristling with subplots that smack of Hollywood storytelling rather than real-world situations.
03/23/07
with such a stubborn and unbending black-versus-white attitude, it comes across as racist as the lily white swim team that serves as the villains
03/23/07
If anything stands out in this relatively routine take on an old sports standby, it's Terrence Howard.
03/22/07
Pride has heart but not the soul it needs to be different.
03/22/07
Grab a real-life sports hero, whip up a few pointless catchphrases, and who cares if the rest is remotely good?
03/22/07
It flounders in the shallow end for a really long time... by the time the story had a chance to move me, I was just ready to get out of the pool.
03/24/07
This kind of story always manages to generate a bit of juice, and both Howard and Bernie Mac do their best to add character to the proceedings.
03/23/07
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