Movie Review Director Thomas Carter's story of a basketball coach's mission to remake high school athletes, Coach Carter,

is practically a throwback to movies like Boys Town and To Sir, With Love. For this reviewer, a simple tale of a goal-driven man of principle beats a million-dollar downfall any day. Despite its fouls, and the whistle blows more than once or twice, Coach Carter takes a direct, man-toman offense that works over the toughest resistance to sappy sports dramas. Based on the true story of Ken Carter, a top basketball player who returned to high school to coach a team of hooligans, One Tree Hill creator Mark Schwahn's and Hardball screenwriter John Gatins' script is clear, honest and daring. Director Carter (Swing Kids, Save the Last Dance) injects several shots of adrenalin. Coach (Samuel L. Jackson) is a self-made businessman who lives by moral absolutes. In the middle-class of a poor California city, he has known athletic glory, made money and, with a sharp son (Robert Ri'chard, shining in a tough role) and a supportive girlfriend (smart, sexy Debbi Morgan), he's living a good life. He's also a natty dresser and a real man, and he's not about to waste time granting pity to the undeserving. Early on, when Coach's attire nets a derogatory reference to the N word, he snaps back with a few lines that lets the brutes know this is one member of the faculty who doesn't substitute familiarity with gangster rap culture for doing his job. Call him Sir Coach-a-Lot. This bunch of locker room losers need guidance and discipline; as a team, they're a pre-pubescent group of changing voices and pent-up anger raised by unwed mothers and crack dealers in broken homes and filthy haunts. We've been down this dark alley beforefrom The Blackboard Jungle to Dangerous Mindsbut fear lives in these boys' eyes, not just in their postures. They dribble, they jostle, they strutand they each know their hearts beat at the whim of whatever's sliming around the next lamppost on the way home from practice. As Coach Carter, Mr. Jackson's layered performance is a slam dunkthe type that's not likely to be noticed by limousine liberalswith a broad range of emotions beneath a hardened exterior. This dude is twice as tough as Shaft, whether staring down a scrawny but lethal thug (Rick Gonzalez, in a raw and moving act) or talking down the school's union-mentality principal (Denise Dowse). Yet Coach Carter aims to rack up a victory on and off the scoreboard, and academic performance comes first. Among his demands: the kids and their parents sign an agreement to achieve decent grades in order to play ball. When some of the teammates violate the contract, Carter takes on the whole blasted town, a mob of parents and public school bureaucrats that treat playing ball as a kid's destiny, a view which Coach regards as contemptible determinism. Confrontations come in waves, with a tournament, a romance, a showdown and the big game, of course, and it's not as easy to call as one might suspect. A gymnasium scene highlights the movie's theme that good choices, not environment, make a man's character. Plenty of game ought to satisfy the sports fan, but this is not a sports movie and player individuality develops off, not on, the court. Editing is director Carter's weak spot, with noisy soundtrack songsit's an MTV co-productiondroning over unnecessary shots of cheerleaders and fans, though instrumental

music is actually good when it's allowed to play. A pool party drags the progression and talented Miss Morgan (Eve's Bayou) as Coach's squeeze is reduced to cheering in the stands. Singer Ashanti, in her movie debut, is not ready for the screen, though she gets better when her character makes one of the boldest choices in a movie about the role of making choices. She doesn't match Rob Brown (Finding Forrester) whose role as her bright basketball player boyfriend is one of the best. Channing Tatum as the token white boy also stands out. In a season of drunks and doomed athletes, Coach Carter is an entertaining picture that provokes thought, laughter and empathy while shooting its hoopsand that's worth a million. Movie Review Sports movies always seem to find themselves a large audience. When presented in a way that specifically caters to the prime demographic of young folk, its almost certain that it will be a hit. Enter MTV Films with their latest addition to the cinematic realm of youth pandering. Coach Carter creates a new millennium hybrid of Dangerous Minds and Hoosiers, beating its message into you like a Pistons/Pacers steel cage match. Based on the true story of Coach Ken Carter (Samuel L. Jackson) and high school basketball team the Richmond Oilers, Coach Carter centers on a reluctant coach as he takes the job as the teams skipper. Coach Carter, alongside his freshman, ex-prep school son (Robert Richard), slowly begins to turn the team from inner city losers into student athletes. Key word: student. Carters rigorous workout routine not only stretches the boundaries of the human body but also the mind. When the team and their parents cause a stir concerning how grades arent as important as a little hoops, Carter locks down the gym, canceling practices and games in an attempt to make the Oilers winners both on and off the court. While the message this film gives is a smart one, it seems like everyone except Carter just doesnt get it. He is coaching in a neighborhood full of morons. From day one he says that education is the most important thing, you would think parents would embrace that given that the Richmond school district has a high crime as well as a high dropout rate. But no, the parents protest his actions in favor of the only way their children can get out of the ghetto, by falling into the stereotype of either NBA player or rapper. What?! It is because of this sort of community wide ignorance that the message of scholastic importance is rigorously beaten to death all throughout the entire movie. But of course, in true Hollywood fashion, in the end they see the error of their ways, and prepare to move on to a higher education....aka the NCAA. Jackson makes this thing work. Without him Coach Carter would just have been an urban after school special. In true Samuel L. Jackson fashion, he is a bad ass, but at the same time a motivator. A motivational bad ass if you will. His presence is commanding, and he looks as though he could easily snap you in two if you test his methods. Like a good drill sergeant, he turns his of band playa haters into participators, uniting them into a team. Recording artist Ashanti makes her feature film debut in a supporting role here, a move on the studios

part to obviously cater to their preferred demographic. At first she does a pretty decent job, but about two minutes into seeing her you get aggravated. Shes the pregnant girlfriend of one the teams best players (Rob Brown), and every subsequent scene in which she showed up I found myself wanting to slap her for being such a ghetto bitch determined to tie the man down. She is just so annoying that you wonder what the hell he saw in her in the first place. The rest of the cast do their best to play the roles designated to them. Some are mostly stereotypical, some are just great to watch. Robert Richard is the Coachs son, and rather than be the teachers pet he has to work to gain the teams respect. Its essentially the Andre Brougher role in Glory, one where the learned soldier has to pay his dues. When done right, that is always the best part to both play, and to watch. Richard is an actor to look out for in the future, most definitely. Director Thomas Carter, no relation, is at the helm for this basketball movie. His last flick for MTV films was the 2001 hit Save the Last Dance. That chick flick about the ghetto ballerina set to fulfill her dream parallels some of Coach Carter. In both films, the characters want out of their urban prisons and escape after some rising and falling to all the highs and lows of life in the hood. Thomas Carters work here, specifically in the basketball scenes, is somewhat good... theres a lot of potential herebut when the script dives into those juicy character scenes the film drags. Some more time in the editing room might solve this problem. The movie clocked in a little over two hours, trim the fat and Coach Carter could go from being plain good to very good. Dont go into this film expecting the next classic that every damn movie with a sport in it tends to be deemed as lately. Coach Carter is a mildly entertaining film that will make you afraid to skip class for fear of an ass whopping from a Bad Motherf**er. But with so much better stuff out there to choose from, dont make it your first choice. Maybe give it a rent when it comes to DVD. Genre: * Coach * Basketball * High School * Contract * High School Basketball * Sporting Goods Store * Fight * Athlete * Suburbia * Vandalism

* Teenage Pregnancy * Student Athlete * Drug Dealing * Sports Team * What Happened To Epilogue * Underage Drinking * Mother Son Relationship * Nightclub * California * Merchant * Motel * Press Conference * Friendship * Teen * Unwed Pregnancy * Father Son Relationship * School Board * Premarital Sex * Murder * Dancing * Push Ups * Single Mother * Sacramento California * African American * Television Reporter

* Dating * Abortion * Gang Violence * Library * Interview * San Francisco California * Profanity * High School Athlete * Education * Inner City * Winning * Swimming Pool * Golden Gate Bridge * Party * Single Father * New Job * Teenage Boy * Based On True Story * Character Name In Title Movie Review In 1999, Ken Carter, a successful sporting goods store owner, accepts the job of basketball coach for his old high school in a poor area of Richmond, CA, where he was a champion athlete. As much dismayed by the poor attitudes of his players as well as their dismal play performance, Carter sets about to change both. He immediately imposes a strict regime typified in written contracts that include stipulations for respectful behavior, a dress code and good grades as requisites to being allowed to participate. The initial resistance from the boys is soon dispelled as the team under Carter's tutelage becomes a undefeated competitor in the games. However, when the overconfident team's behavior begins to stray and Carter learns that too many players are doing poorly in class, he takes immediate action. To the outrage of the team, the school and the community, Carter cancels all team activities and locks the court

until the team shows acceptable academic improvement. In the ensuing debate, Carter fights to keep his methods, determined to show the boys that they need to rely on more than sports for their futures and eventually finds he has affected them more profoundly than he ever expected.