Directed by:
Thomas CarterCinematography:
Sharone MeirComposer:
Trevor RabinCast:
Samuel L. Jackson, Rob Brown, Robert Ri'chard, Rick Gonzalez, Antwon Tanner, Channing Tatum, Ashanti, Texas Battle, Debbi Morgan, Vincent Laresca (more)VOD (3)
Plots(1)
COACH CARTER tells the inspiring true story of controversial high school basketball coach Ken Carter (Jackson). Making headlines for his emphasis on the importance of academics over athletics, Carter requests all the members of the team to sign contracts, promising to maintain a certain grade point average. When the players fail to live up to this agreement, Carter benches the entire team, locking the gym and forfeiting games to prove his point. This infuriates the community who sees this as a hindrance to the future professional athletic careers of the players. Through hard work and dedication, Carter eventually gets his point across to his team and the community, going above and beyond to ensure a solid academic future for his team. (official distributor synopsis)
(more)Reviews (2)
It is difficult to have a revolutionary script when, in the end the boys will either win or lose and there is no other option. But everything in between that is more than solid. The recruitment of the players, a bit of life philosophy, hinted racial segregation in US high schools, problems with the education system as a whole, and so on. There is quite a lot going on, and Samuel L. Jackson is just the right kind of tough, uncompromising, and at the same time emotional coach who holds it all together brilliantly. For a sports movie, it is excellent, otherwise it is above average.
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An unexpected disarming blast! Those two hours flew by, Coach Carter is an extremely engaging basketball drama, made all the more so by the fact that it is a true story. The protagonist has taken a new job coaching basketball players at a very bad high school, and so he decides to not just pay attention to his coaching role, but to try to fix the lives of his charges and make them better and more intelligent people. The perfectly balanced ratio of personal lives to basketball practices, heated games, and meticulously convincing performances, along with the as always excellent Samuel L. Jackson, make the film a wonderful one-man show for the evening that will appeal to just about every type of viewer. I have no complaints, this was a textbook drama that was not lacking in suspense, build-up and intensity.
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