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Movie Review - Coach Carter (2005)
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(What this rating means)
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| Director: |
Thomas Carter |
| Starring: |
Samuel L. Jackson and Ashanti |
| Rated: |
PG-13 (for violence, sexual content, language, teen partying and some drug) |
| Length: |
136 minutes |
| Genre: |
Sports drama |
| Tagline: |
It begins on the street. It ends here. |
| Studio: |
Paramount |
| Website: |
Coach Carter |
| Release: |
January 14, 2005 |
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PLOT
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In 1999, Ken Carter (Samuel L. Jackson) was talked into taking over the basketball team of his alma mater, Richmond
High School. Faced with undisciplined and disrespectful players, Carter laid down some ground rules and had the
players sign contracts, agreeing to abide by the rules. Riding high on an undefeated streak, Carter thought he had
finally gotten through to the boys - until he received progress reports on their grades. Carter had no choice but
to make an unexpected and unpopular decision. Samuel L. Jackson's depiction of the true story of Coach Ken Carter
ensues.
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JOHNNY'S TAKE
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Immediately after being introduced as the new head coach, Coach Carter informs the players that respect and
discipline will be required. Naturally, this doesn't sit well with some of the guys. After all, they were
used to getting away with everything. But that's the attitude that resulted in only four wins the previous
season. So instead of accepting disrespect, Carter forces a player to leave the gym. Two of his slacker
friends follow him.
When one of the remaining players speaks up and complains that they just lost their two highest scorers from
last season, Carter replies, "Well then will have two new highest scorers this season."
That's Coach Carter. He took the reigns of a team of underachievers and pushed them to be better than average.
But to be more than average, you have to accept the responsibility of a certain amount of work and effort.
Don't want to accept your responsibilities? That's nothing that 1000 push-ups and 500 suicides won't cure.
There's no doubt that some people just don't have it in them to play for a coach like that. I've been there, and
a lot of the time you absolutely hate the coach. "Come on, coach, what do you mean we have to run stairs for 10
minutes?? We just had a 2 1/2 hour wrestling practice!" We ended up running stairs for 20 minutes, and that was
the last time any of us complained. We hated the coach at that moment, but he got our attention, and more
importantly, he got his point across.
Achieving excellence is never easy, whether it be in the sports arena or in the classroom. Coach Carter's team
was doing great on the basketball court, starting off the season on a huge win streak. But problems in the
classroom brought everything to a halt. Bye bye sunshine.
Once Carter received progress reports from the teachers (he had to twist arms to do it), the bad news was several
of his players were failing classes. They all signed contracts to maintain a 2.3 GPA. They didn't maintain the
GPA. So what happened? Carter locked the gym, closed practice, and said all games would be forfeited until the
conditions of the contracts were met.
Great! It's about time a coach took a stand like that! I guess parents, school board members, and the
community all rallied around the coach and his brave stand, right? Nope. Parents and the rest of the
community were only concerned with trying to win a state championship. In fact, the parents were in such an
uproar that they demanded that Coach Carter be fired.
The school board cowardly voted to end the lockout, and Coach Carter said that he would quit. But the team
rallied around him, and said they wouldn't play until everybody met his requirements.
Samuel L. Jackson is, no surprise, perfect as Coach Carter. You wanna scare a couple of players straight?
Just have Samuel L. stare 'em straight in the eyes for about 5 minutes. Jackson is so convincing as a
disciplinarian that I stood up at one point during the movie and started running suicides. The taunts of,
"Look at that idiot running in the theater" and "Sit down! Your stupid pants are ruffling and making too
much noise" didn't bother me. I knew Coach Carter would be proud.
By no means is this movie a masterpiece. The main drawback is that I wasn't enthralled with all the little
subplots. The one side story with the player being involved with dealing drugs worked well because it made
sense within the context of the movie. But I could've done without Ashanti and her basketball-playing boyfriend
talking and whining and talking about her unplanned pregnancy. OK, fine, yeah, that stuff happens all the time
in the ghetto, but that doesn't mean it makes for compelling viewing. I'd rather see 10 more minutes of Jackson
threatening to break somebody's face than 10 minutes of a school dance.
As a result of the subplots, some people might get a little restless with the 136 minute running time.
I'll probably watch this again one day on DVD, but when I do I'll fast forward through all the scenes
dealing with Ashanti and her pregnancy. Yeah, yeah, human interest, blah blah blah. Unfortunately, it
was of no interest to THIS human, so there you go.
Also, the "I came to teach boys, and you became men" inspirational clichés start to hit hyperdrive as the movie
winds down. You'll probably roll your eyes at least twice, and you might want to keep a plastic yellow bucket
handy in case your gag reflex kicks in. But hey, it's forgivable.
This is a true story (with some poetic license exercised) that needs to be heard. Basketball is a privilege.
Many amateur athletes think they can play professional sports, but Coach Carter knew differently. That's why he
still believed in the STUDENT-athlete. In his own words, "On the streets and public basketball courts in
Richmond and any other city in America, you see the broken dreams of former high school legends who got
left behind by life. And I was just not going to let that happen to these boys."
Now if you'll excuse me, I've got 50 more push-ups and 10 suicides to do.
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ODDS & ENDS
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- An actual quote by Ken Carter: "I had a very short list of actors who I'd like to see portray me. Samuel L.
Jackson was the only name on it."
- I bet all the parents wanting to fire Coach Carter feel like idiots now.
- Ken Carter wanted the basketball scenes to look authentic, so real basketball players were brought in for
tryouts. They were required to have played high school basketball and been All Conference and/or All Star
players.
- For more info on the true story of Ken Story, check out
this article from his website.
- Samuel L. Jackson was in S.W.A.T. with Michelle Rodriguez who was in Resident Evil with
Milla Jovovich who was in Kuffs with Christian Slater who was in Bed of Roses with Josh Brolin
who was in Hollow Man with Kevin Bacon.
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MAMA'S APPROVAL
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It's a little rough at times. There's profanity, teen pregnancy, drug dealers, a brutal shooting, and a big ol'
make-out fest at a party. This is probably best for those 13 and older.
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TRAILER COMPARISON
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The trailer captured my interest - somewhat. I thought, "Looks like it could be all right," and I'm happy to
report that it was better than I expected.
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THE GIST
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If you're a fan of inspirational sports stories, then Coach Carter is definitely worth checking out.
Or if you're a coach who is having trouble whipping his team into shape, then this may give you some great
ideas. Samuel L. Jackson slaps some sense into a group of unruly punks. What's not to like?
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