Film 21 (9/8/2005)

Coach Carter (2005)

Director: Thomas Carter

Recommended by: nobody

Has Fentablar seen this before?: No.

If Coach Carter were not a true story, I would say that it was a somewhat bland attempt to make a crossover (no pun intended) of Hoosiers and He Got Game. However, it is a true story, so I can't really say that.

In 1999, high school basketball coach Ken Carter turns his team from a 4-win season to an undefeated one, in his first year. Upon finding out near the season's end that his players aren't collectively getting decent grades, he shuts down practice and locks the gym - no more basketball until the grades improve.

The idea, of course, being that basketball is not as important as school, since a relative few actually "make it" to the pros. While I appreciate that this is a true story, this is not by any means a new message. Additionally, the effectiveness of this message as it relates to the film is somewhat nullified by the film's plot. A big piece of this message relates to understanding what it means to have integrity; usually more effective on those who don't yet seem to understand integrity itself. Yet, Carter's players demonstrate early on that they have integrity:

When Cruz wants to return to the team, Carter gives him a week-long assignment to be done during practicesand tells him he can be back on the team if he completes it. The assignment: 2500 push-ups and 1000 "suicides" (an infamous basketball workout). By the end of the week, Cruz is short in both categories. Carter tells him to leave the gym, at which point the other players step up and say that they'll do the remaining push-ups and suicides for him. In my opinion, this shows more integrity than I would expect from the typical high school student.

Yes, as the film goes on, the players seem to lose sight of this integrity as they become engulfed in the enjoyment of winning games and being undefeated ... but it's not as if Carter's message would really have been some sort of major revelation to them.

If, in real life, Carter's message was deeply revealing for them, the film did not seem to convey this very well.

Enough said.

Ratings (scale of 1 to 5):

Plot Effectiveness: 3/5. It just seems a bit bland to me. A story which could have been conveyed more aptly.

Cinematography/Shot Selection: 3/5. I did not appreciate the in-game segments - they seemed to be thrown together, were not very well timed and seemed to spend more time with the crowd than necessary. Otherwise, this category does ok.

Overall Acting: 3/5. In my opinion, this would have been a 2 if it weren't for Samuel L. Jackson.

Score/Soundtrack: 3/5. I don't have much to say here, honestly.

OVERALL RATING: 3/5

~Fentablar~