Coach Carter 2005

Terry Lawson, Detroit Free Press: In this film, basketball is not a metaphor; it's a hard-played game that requires skill, conditioning, intelligence and effective teamwork. Read more

Erik Lundegaard, Seattle Times: Must decency be dull? Read more

Sid Smith, Chicago Tribune: The film nicely balances the stories, allowing some of the teammates to emerge as believably streetwise characters. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: This is supposed to be about setting high standards, yet it's full of fudged ultimatums; in the end I couldn't be sure whether its morality was complex or just confused. Read more

Carla Meyer, San Francisco Chronicle: Features bursts of humor and electrifying energy offset by speechifying and a dud of a subplot. Read more

Ebert & Roeper: Read more

Bob Townsend, Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Thank goodness then for go-to guy Jackson. He takes what could have been a cardboard cliche role and puts flesh on it with his flamboyant intelligence. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: Samuel L. Jackson shouts, yells, bellows, and screams his way through the fact-inspired film Read more

Bill Muller, Arizona Republic: The movie's 'message' -- life is more than just sports -- is delivered with the delicacy of a piano dropped from a fifth-story window. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: 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? Read more

Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times: If you've spent a week with CBS' prime-time lineup, you've heard this tune a million times. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: The kind of boot-strap-pulling, tear-duct-tickling, I-am-Spartacus-crowing movie-on-a-mission that might rankle more cynical movie goers but sets hearts aflutter for most everyone else. Read more

Michael Booth, Denver Post: Clearly there was a publicity hound somewhere inside the coach when he made his lockout a TV spectacle, but the movie avoids any such interesting shadows. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Is there anything in movies less convincing than a high-school ne'er-do-wells get-down-and-study montage? Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: The appeal lies in the genre's mixed marriage of liberal sensibilities to conservative values, a happy American union that simultaneously acknowledges the fact of social injustice while insisting on the need for individual responsibility. Read more

Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News: Coach Carter will be greeted with reviews that overflow with sports metaphors. Let's just say that the movie scores solidly. Read more

Ernest Hardy, L.A. Weekly: Director Thomas Carter, working from a script by Mark Schwahn and John Gatins, manages to elevate the cliches into a surprisingly engaging, enjoyable two hours. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: For all Coach Carter's moralizing, it is an eminently palatable drama, and Samuel L. Jackson -- who has certainly been known to take nobility to the nth degree -- is first-rate as Carter. Read more

Ken Tucker, New York Magazine/Vulture: Saved by bursts of energy and inventiveness. Read more

Lisa Rose, Newark Star-Ledger: The movie may consist of formulaic elements, but it excels on the strength of its cast and the sincerity of its message. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: By the time you leave, Jackson will have you believing that his Coach Carter is a true original. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: Samuel L. Jackson plays the real-life coach of a high school basketball team in this solid, unsurprising sports drama. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Jackson plays the coach with wit and authority. His imposing presence ensures that he won't have to take much guff, even from the toughest punk on the team. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: The main problem with Coach Carter can be summed up simply: too much sermonizing. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: It's not only a sports movie with the usual big games and important shots, but also a coach movie, with inspiring locker room speeches and difficult moral decisions. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: One of those highly effective conventional pictures that remind us that conventionality isn't always a bad thing. Read more

Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune: With his steely, don't-mess-with-me aura, Jackson is ideally cast as Carter. When he blows his whistle and demands that everyone do wind sprints, you might think he means you, too. Read more

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Read more

Geoff Pevere, Toronto Star: No one will be surprised to learn that Jackson's Coach Carter is a shining slab of steel-rod charisma. Read more

Chris Tilly, Time Out: Although this is an inspirational genre pic that pushes all the requisite buttons throughout, you cana(TM)t help but feel that rather than benching the team, director Thomas Carter should have benched a few of those ham-fisted sporting clichA (C)s instead Read more

Mike Clark, USA Today: Nothing but the coach's gutsy move and the fact that it really happened distinguishes this movie from a litany of past basketball dramas. Read more

Robert Koehler, Variety: Both an inspirational sports movie and an unexpected multi-level urban drama that plays by its own clock. Read more

David Blaylock, Village Voice: Too vicious to speak to bleeding-heart liberals, too pro-academia to speak to No Child Left Behind advocates, and too preachy to speak to youths. Read more

Sean Daly, Washington Post: The basketball footage is often thrilling, the camera whooshing through the action like a darting point guard. Read more