As the kids struggle with their coach's tough love, their own hormones (at times, the team descends into a dysfunctional love triangle) and Jim Crow racism at its ugliest, it's easy to root for them.
Comment
12/26/07
The Great Debaters (2007)
79
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:126
Fresh:99
Rotten:27
Average Rating:7/10
Consensus: A wonderful cast and top-notch script elevate The Great Debaters beyond a familiar formula for a touching, uplifting drama.
Runtime: 2 hrs 3 mins
Genre: Dramas
US Box Office: $29,961,818
Synopsis: Denzel Washington directs and stars in this uplifting drama based on a true story about a small East Texas all-black college in 1935 that rises to the top of the nation's debate teams in a duel... [More]
Starring: Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, Nate Parker, Jurnee Smollett
Director: Denzel Washington
Reviews for The Great Debaters
The goal here is to educate and to inspire, and that's what The Great Debaters does.
12/26/07
There's so much to like in Denzel Washington's new movie, it's easier to accentuate the positive.
12/26/07
[It's] is history at its most entertaining, and a vivid reminder that we're all living in a country built and then rebuilt by people who turned their passion into logical, rational arguments that moved us, step by step, down the road to justice.
12/26/07
For a movie about a debate team -- one with the word 'debaters' in the title, no less -- Denzel Washington's second effort as a director doesn't have that much interest in what a debate looks and sounds like.
12/26/07
There are enough things to admire about The Great Debaters, the heavily fictionalized true story of The Little Debate Team That Could, that your impulse is to forgive the movie its shortcomings.
12/26/07
Top CriticIt's an inspirational film that wears its heart on its sleeve. But it's got a good, strong heart and, despite some awkward moments in the later going, it's an elegantly directed second effort from Washington.
12/26/07
Washington’s charisma is on full display, and he makes Tompkins a figure of remarkable courage.
12/26/07
The Great Debaters keeps things on the surface and pushes the obvious buttons, hoping you won't notice its distinct lack of depth.
12/26/07
It makes learning look exciting and sexy and ... really hard.
12/26/07
Washington’s crisp direction and the sharp performances help to leaven the inspirational emphasis of Robert Eisele’s screenplay while steadily building tension. By the time it’s over even cynics will be fighting the impulse to stand up and cheer.
12/26/07
There may be little here we haven't seen before, but rarely has it been executed this expertly.
12/26/07
Even if it does precisely what you expect it's going to do, you still love it for doing it so well and telling a tale that bears repeating.
12/26/07
The Great Debaters has value, to be sure, especially for teenage viewers. But serious moviegoers, especially those attracted by the movie's aggressive Oscar campaign, will likely find the package gorgeously wrapped but intellectually empty.
12/26/07
This fact-based drama is well-intentioned but gets a little bogged down in the details.
12/26/07
With Antwone Fisher and now The Great Debaters, Mr. Washington has made a pair of movies that dodge enough clichés to indulge in a few.
12/26/07
Conceived like a sports movie, this delivers passion, nuance, and historical insight along with unnecessary hokum.
12/26/07
As in Antwone Fisher, which helped make a star of Derek Luke, Washington draws effortless performances from his young actors, which go a long way in making The Great Debaters more enjoyable than you might expect.
12/26/07
Washington and the young cast carry everything off with unwavering conviction.
12/26/07
The Great Debaters is passionate in a professional way, a very fine movie that should have challenged its audience as much as it challenged its characters.
12/26/07
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