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Notes:
Tension mounted as the Richmond High Oilers faced the upcoming basketball championship. The town was wild with excitement over their undefeated team and the bleachers were filled with cheering fans for every game. No one could imagine that on January 4, 1999 the community would erupt in dissention and so many lives would change forever when Coach Ken Carter padlocked the gym, refusing the players access for failing to keep up their grades.
Drama - An inspirational, feel-good story that gets emotional at times and
may cause a tear or two. It has several scenes of exciting
basketball action, but you certainly don't have to be a basketball
fan to enjoy the story.
PROFANITY: 2 GD's, 29 S-words, 1 F-word, many others. SEX/NUDITY: Some sexual innuendo and sexy dancing. VIOLENCE: One man is shot and killed. DRUGS/ALCOHOL: Some teen drinking at a party. One person is drunk. ACTION: A half dozen or so basketball action scenes. COMEDY: Just a dozen or so smiles and a couple of chuckles.
The above rating is an average of the critic reviews below.
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Berardinelli, Internet CriticFull Review Average Director Thomas Carter likes message movies. In his career, he has helmed at least two others: "Swing Kids" and "Save the Last Dance." But "Coach Carter" is by far his loudest statement. But, as much as I applaud what Carter is saying with this creaky melodrama, it's hard to recommend the film. Is it inspirational? Perhaps, but so are many church sermons, and it's also clumsy and obvious. It's tough to give Coach Carter a passing grade.
Roger EbertFull Review Good "Coach Carter" follows long-established genre patterns; it's not only a sports movie with the usual big games and important shots, but also a coach movie, with inspiring locker room speeches and difficult moral decisions. There are certain parallels with "Friday Night Lights," although there it's the movie itself, and not the coach, that underlines the futility of high school stars planning on pro sports as a career.
USA TodayFull Review Average "Coach Carter" is 2 1/4 hours of MTV-produced tough love, with a dance break and pool party to relieve — momentarily — a series of motivational rants from lead Samuel L. Jackson. Nothing but the coach's gutsy move and the fact that it really happened distinguishes this movie from a litany of past basketball dramas. This fact-based basketball saga is lucky to have Jackson, who carries the movie on his shoulders under... Yet despite the story's provocative hook, the execution is so slack that we come away feeling we've seen this yarn too many times before.
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their review. We are not affiliated with these critic's in any way.
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OPINION OVERVIEW The following is the original "What's Worth
Watching" write-up for this movie.
Moviegoer Opinions:
We collected 167 moviegoer opinions. WONDERFUL MOVIE! OUTSTANDING OPINIONS! With nearly everyone rating it either "Fantastic" or "Excellent," "COACH CARTER" is not to be missed.
Playing high school basketball takes more than skill, perseverance, discipline and teamwork especially when you play for Coach Ken Carter (Samuel L. Jackson). Just to step on Carter's court takes a signed contract that assures him you'll be performing at your best on the court and in the classroom. On Coach Carter's watch, it's not just about winning a basketball game... it's about his team's future.
That's why, when some of Carter's players let their grades slip, he chooses to padlock the gym, keeping the undefeated team from practicing and from playing. Standing up to school officials who oppose him, not to mention a town full of angry parents, many of whom see basketball as the only way for their sons to get out of Richmond, Carter refuses to back down. Having attended Richmond High himself, he has literally been in those boys' shoes. Like them, he loved playing the game. And even though he was a very accomplished player, and still held many of the school's records, it is education not basketball —that Carter feels led him to be the man he is today.
Encouraging others to put education before recreation, Carter wants to leave a legacy. He wants players to see beyond their hoop dreams and see a future with endless options and possibilities.
