I have a few reasons for loving this movie:
1. It's a sports movie and there's hardly a sports movie that I don't like.
2. It's a true story which makes it doubly good.
3. It's based in Richmond which is close to where I grew up.
"Coach Carter" was a different kind of sports movie. Sure, it involved a worst-to-first element and a hard nosed coach ala "Remember the Titans" and "Miracle," but it was monumentally different in that Coach Ken Carter (played by Samuel L. Jackson) wasn't all about basketball. He was willing to halt basketball altogether if that's what it took for his players to focus on school and pick up their grades.
What makes this movie, and Coach Carter's move, so compelling is that he had a winning basketball team. When Carter took over the Richmond High School hoops team they had just come off of a 4-22 season. That's atrocious by any estimation. Coach Carter promised to make them winners if they followed his plan, but before any of that, every player would have to sign a contract. The main precepts of the contract were that they'd be on time for practice, maintain a 2.3 GPA, sit at the front of their classes, and wear a tie on game day. These are not unreasonable demands, but you'd have thought he asked for them to give blood the way some of the players reacted.
Those that signed the contract and adhered to Carter's rules were allowed to play. What was the result? They were winners. They became very good. In fact, they were undefeated until Coach Carter received some progress reports and saw failing grades. It was then that he cancelled practices and games due to the players' failure to meet the terms of the contracts they signed. It was a ballsy move, but it truly illustrated how serious Carter was about these kids' education.
How many of us have the strength and fortitude to do the same? How many of us would bar our winning team from playing because they were failing? It's easy to lockout a losing team, but then that wouldn't be a story anyway--but locking out an undefeated team?!?! That's what men of principle do.
As a production and as a story I loved this movie, although I think Ashanti was seriously miscast. Someone forgot to inform her that she was playing someone from Richmond, California not Brooklyn, New York. As a California native it drove me crazy every time she spoke, like "You are not in New York!"
I had to get that off of my chest.
In spite of Ashanti, "Coach Carter" was a terrific movie.
1. It's a sports movie and there's hardly a sports movie that I don't like.
2. It's a true story which makes it doubly good.
3. It's based in Richmond which is close to where I grew up.
"Coach Carter" was a different kind of sports movie. Sure, it involved a worst-to-first element and a hard nosed coach ala "Remember the Titans" and "Miracle," but it was monumentally different in that Coach Ken Carter (played by Samuel L. Jackson) wasn't all about basketball. He was willing to halt basketball altogether if that's what it took for his players to focus on school and pick up their grades.
What makes this movie, and Coach Carter's move, so compelling is that he had a winning basketball team. When Carter took over the Richmond High School hoops team they had just come off of a 4-22 season. That's atrocious by any estimation. Coach Carter promised to make them winners if they followed his plan, but before any of that, every player would have to sign a contract. The main precepts of the contract were that they'd be on time for practice, maintain a 2.3 GPA, sit at the front of their classes, and wear a tie on game day. These are not unreasonable demands, but you'd have thought he asked for them to give blood the way some of the players reacted.
Those that signed the contract and adhered to Carter's rules were allowed to play. What was the result? They were winners. They became very good. In fact, they were undefeated until Coach Carter received some progress reports and saw failing grades. It was then that he cancelled practices and games due to the players' failure to meet the terms of the contracts they signed. It was a ballsy move, but it truly illustrated how serious Carter was about these kids' education.
How many of us have the strength and fortitude to do the same? How many of us would bar our winning team from playing because they were failing? It's easy to lockout a losing team, but then that wouldn't be a story anyway--but locking out an undefeated team?!?! That's what men of principle do.
As a production and as a story I loved this movie, although I think Ashanti was seriously miscast. Someone forgot to inform her that she was playing someone from Richmond, California not Brooklyn, New York. As a California native it drove me crazy every time she spoke, like "You are not in New York!"
I had to get that off of my chest.
In spite of Ashanti, "Coach Carter" was a terrific movie.