Great Debaters, The

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

This is a film that is affirming and inspiring and re-creates the stories of a remarkable team and its coach.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

A triumph. Unapologetically old-school, in both the literal and metaphorical meanings of the term, Debaters overlays the story of social underdogs onto the familiar template of the stand-and-deliver saga, the staple of sports inspirationals like "Rocky," "Invincible" and "The Karate Kid."

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Ultimately an uplifting movie because it is about triumph.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

The three young actors are good, but the movie is held together from beginning to end by another riveting performance from Washington. Few actors can dominate a film with their diction as well as Washington, and the role of the erudite, passionate Mel Tolson gives him plenty of opportunity.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

The Great Debaters is like one of those sentimentally revved youth-sports-team crowd-pleasers. This time, though, the sport is debating, and the setting is an elite black college in Marshall, Tex., in 1935

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Good story, well told. Interesting concept. I wonder if people will go for it.

San Francisco Chronicle Walter Addiego

An edifying and forthright drama that aims to create a lump in the throat, and succeeds.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

Succeeds in bringing a lump to the throat without, as is de rigueur these days, insulting our intelligence.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Eisele and Washington lacked faith in their material. So they've made the big debate opponent not USC but Harvard, a more clear-cut epitome of the white world of privilege that has to face the hard truths of racial equality.

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

For a film about the power of speech, it's the quiet moments of rapture that say everything.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

If I had to pick one word to describe The Great Debaters, it would be "nutritious."

Time Richard Schickel

The film may be manipulative in its construction, and cliché-ridden in some of the incidents it recounts, but it has a good, large heart.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Mr. Washington is splendid, as always. So is Forest Whitaker as James Farmer, Sr.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

It's a great family movie, if not historically perfect, and something that a lot of people are going to like.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Conceived like a sports movie, this delivers passion, nuance, and historical insight along with unnecessary hokum.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

Because it is so old-school Hollywood, with a weakness for standard moments and pat situations, The Great Debaters initially comes off as easily dismissible. Largely saving it from that fate is the presence and ability of Denzel Washington, who costars with Forest Whitaker and directs from Robert Eisele's script.

Newsweek David Ansen

Wouldn't it have been more fascinating if, just once, they had to argue, as all debate teams must, against their own beliefs? That would have really tested these amazing kids' mettle--and the movie's too.

Variety Todd McCarthy

Tailor-made for maximum inspirational, historical and educational impact, The Great Debaters shines a bright spotlight on a remarkable example of black achievement long forgotten in the sorry history of the Jim Crow South.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

An earnest drama about the search for self-esteem and sense of responsibility among young black people that successfully relies on its fine actors.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Not the most thrilling of competition films. There are only two short debate scenes, and each time the team gets to argue (in sound bites of rhetoric) the politically correct side of the issue.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Even when you're disappointed with the film's predictability, there's something invigorating about the way it embraces literacy and argument.

USA Today Claudia Puig

An enjoyable, rousing film, despite its formulaic quality.

Premiere Glenn Kenny

While The Great Debaters' intentions don't lead it to movie hell, this picture is far more diffuse, commonplace, and predictable than the surprisingly convincing "Fisher."

New York Post Lou Lumenick

There's an air of extreme predictability and inevitability in the script - which takes liberties like moving the climactic debate from the University of Southern California to the grander precincts of Harvard.

The New York Times Stephen Holden

The wonder is that The Great Debaters transcends its own simplifying and manipulative ploys; it radiates nobility of spirit.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

About midway through Denzel Washington's new film The Great Debaters comes a raw and terrifying scene that exemplifies why the movie's worth seeing, despite its hackneyed and awkward story.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

Too bad the story is all over the place. One second, it focuses on a love triangle between students; the next, it's about Washington's efforts to unionize the local farmers.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Polished, pokey and cloyingly formulaic, Denzel Washington's directing follow-up to "Antwone Fisher" is a Harpo -- as in Oprah spelled backwards -- Production all the way.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

The film is hobbled by the narrative predictability that inevitably governs this type of drama.

Village Voice Nick Pinkerton

The film avoids potentially interesting frictions by always letting the team debate (and win) on the "correct" side of every issue--that which aligns with generally accepted modern liberal sympathies. The kids follow their party line all the way to the big game, a ridiculous, fallacy-riddled face-off against Harvard.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

All of this unfolds with such predictability, the title might as well be The Great Foregone Conclusion.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

The Great Debaters keeps things on the surface and pushes the obvious buttons, hoping you won't notice its distinct lack of depth.