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Movies / Upcoming / Coach Carter
Coach Carter

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Coach Carter (2005)

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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.

Runtime: 2 hrs 16 mins

Genre: Dramas

US Box Office: $67,169,549

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

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Reviews for Coach Carter

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1 - 20 (sorted by source; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
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N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | comment Comment
05/27/05
Sydney Morning Herald
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
10/18/08
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Slam Dunk!

Full Review Source: 3BlackChicks Review | comment Comment
07/12/05
Kamal  'The Diva' Larsuel
Kamal 'The Diva' Larsuel
3BlackChicks Review

By making the choices the filmmakers did here, we get a movie that may not be profound, but it's both highly entertaining for its sports and fascinating for its social issues.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
12/11/08
Brian Webster
Brian Webster
Apollo Guide

Each of the side stories is played out in excruciating detail and seems to exist in entirely different movies, all of which will be tied up into bows by the end.

Full Review Source: Arizona Daily Star | comment Comment
01/13/05
Phil Villarreal
Phil Villarreal
Arizona Daily Star

The movie's 'message' -- life is more than just sports -- is delivered with the delicacy of a piano dropped from a fifth-story window.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
01/13/05
Bill Muller
Bill Muller
Arizona Republic

Thank goodness then for go-to guy Jackson. He takes what could have been a cardboard cliche role and puts flesh on it with his flamboyant intelligence.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
01/13/05
Bob Townsend
Bob Townsend
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Writers Mark Schwahn and John Gatins have a teen-movie pedigree, and they've kludged the film's true-life material into a conventional three-act shape instead of reimagining it as cinematic.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
01/16/05
Marrit Ingman
Marrit Ingman
Austin Chronicle

Not a whole lot of fun. Or for that matter, any fun whatsoever.

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
09/26/05
Nathan Rabin
Nathan Rabin
AV Club

Samuel L. Jackson shouts, yells, bellows, and screams his way through the fact-inspired film

Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
10/06/06
Nathan Rabin
Nathan Rabin
AV Club

Over long and deeply manipulative, Coach Carter should nonetheless be praised for its far-from-fashionable celebration of personal advancement through academic achievement.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
02/08/05
Neil Smith
Neil Smith
BBC

How do you put this message across without it seeming medicinal? Sure, MTV is among the movie's producers, but what 11th grader wants to spend a Friday night being hit with such a blunt instrument?

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
01/14/05
Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris
Boston Globe
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
01/15/05
Boston Phoenix
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

For those in need of an uplifting story in our dumbed-down times, Coach Carter is a slam dunk.

Full Review Source: Boulder Weekly | comment Comment
01/21/05
Thomas Delapa
Thomas Delapa
Boulder Weekly

Utterly intolerable with its indulgence in inner-city stereotypes, overt preaching and simple antidotes.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
01/14/05
Tim Cogshell
Tim Cogshell
Boxoffice Magazine

Aside from maybe "Friday Night Lights," I can't think of another recent sports movie that dared to suggest athletic achievement isn't a worthy goal in and of itself.

Full Review Source: Capital Times (Madison, WI) | comment Comment
01/13/05
Rob Thomas
Rob Thomas
Capital Times (Madison, WI)

A worthy addition to familiar triumph-of-the-underdog stories.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
03/25/08
Leigh Singer
Leigh Singer
Channel 4 Film

This is supposed to be about setting high standards, yet it's full of fudged ultimatums; in the end I couldn't be sure whether its morality was complex or just confused.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
03/25/08
J. R. Jones
J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader

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.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
01/14/05
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The film nicely balances the stories, allowing some of the teammates to emerge as believably streetwise characters.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
01/13/05
Sid Smith
Sid Smith
Chicago Tribune
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by source; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 >> >|
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