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This entry in a rather stale genre deserves to be put at the head of the class.
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75Jackson has the usual big speeches assigned to all coaches in all sports movies, and delivers on them, big time. His passion makes familiar scenes feel new.
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A true story, feel-good parable and a respectable, uplifting descendent of "To Sir, With Love" and "Lean On Me."
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75Descended from a long and healthy line of high school-sports and academic-achievement films, a hip-hop "Hoosiers" bolstered by a generous helping of "Stand and Deliver" and "Lean On Me."
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75By turns funny, touching and genuinely inspiring.
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75It's fair to say that Coach Carter is more an education film than it is a sports movie.
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75A sports flick that's a worthy addition to the genre.
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70Unfortunately, the accompanying story threads tend to bog down the action rather than provide contrast between the games.
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70Coach Carter, its flaws aside, is as interesting for what it doesn't do as for what it does.
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70Jackson's wonderfully nuanced, witty performance, and a few unexpected plot turns, give Coach Carter a subtext that helps complicate such knee-jerk oversimplifications, redeeming the role with energetic humor and a loose-limbed grace.
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70Both an inspirational sports movie and an unexpected multi-level urban drama that plays by its own clock.
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70Covers every cliche in the Hollywood sports movie playbook, but it also makes the routine much more enjoyable than you'd expect.
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67While the movie may border on teen exploitation in many scenes, its heart and values are mostly in the right place, and it qualifies its thrill of victory with a very sober message: few high school athletes become NBA millionaires, many are cheated out of an education.
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63Who's it for? 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?
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63When [Jackcson]'s not on camera, Coach Carter feels like the two-hour opus it is - too long, too banal, a bit ridiculous. But when he is, nothing else seems to matter, and how sublime is that.
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63Heartwarming drama.
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60Thanks mainly to his (Jackson) considerable presence, Coach Carter works more effectively than expected.
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60Delivers its commendable message with affecting eloquence.
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60It's a good story, well told.
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60The corniness and predictability feel, if not quite fresh, then not so groaningly stale.
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60This may be the coach's story, but to the extent that Coach Carter is interesting rather than merely inspirational, it's because of the team.
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60A smart entertainment that trades on Mr. Jackson's forceful presence, a cast of extremely likable young actors and lots of basketball action.
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58Jackson, though, does lend this earnest formula flick a core of conviction.
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50The movie's moral messages are all on target. Too bad the movie is much, much too long and Jackson gives one of his dullest performances ever.
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Predictable.
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50Features bursts of humor and electrifying energy offset by speechifying and a dud of a subplot.
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502-1/4 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.
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50The main problem with Coach Carter can be summed up simply: too much sermonizing.
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50As it goes on and on and on, Coach Carter becomes more patience-testing than soul-stirring, proving that you can overdose on good intentions as easily as you can on evil substances.
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50Coach Carter eventually curdles into a grim love letter to discipline and accountability, which makes it the perfect sports film for W.'s second term, but not a whole lot of fun.
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Proudly wearing its self-righteousness like a letterman jacket, Coach Carter's just an exasperatingly long "The More You Know" commercial starring one first-stringer and the junior varsity.
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50Director Thomas Carter (no relation to Ken) relies on processed emotion and stock characters, and not even the inevitable Big Game excites us very much.
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50So, while the movie at times warmed my own middle-class, private school-educated cockles to a toasty complacency, there's an undercurrent of friendly fascism running through it like a nasty draft.
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50In the end I couldn't be sure whether its morality was complex or just confused. Like its young athletes, it earns a gentleman's C.
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40The script is really the heart of the problem.
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38This afternoon-TV special trying to pass as a real movie earns an extra half star solely for Samuel L. Jackson, who brings his usual fire to the role.
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User score distribution:
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Positive: 31 out of 35
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Mixed: 2 out of 35
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Negative: 2 out of 35
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JayG.8It's worth watching. Really good performance by actors, good music and incredible story makes this movie an excellent material.
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SuleimanM.7
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DisappointedParent0