You said we're a team. One person struggles, we all struggle. One person triumphs, we all triumph.

Rating: 8/10 (30 December 2009)

Coach Carter is based on a true story, in which Richmond High School head basketball coach Ken Carter made the headlines in 1999 for locking out his undefeated team due to their poor academic results. This, at a time when the team was excelling out on the court, caused a furious reaction from the parents, the town and principals alike.
You have seen one uplifting sport movie then you have seen them all it would seem. From the likes of comedy fluff such as Major League, to the more serious approach in productions like Remember the Titans et al, the formula is prescribed to leave a warming glow come the inevitable finale. What helps these types of movies succeed of course, is if the film is based around a true story, such as this one is, and more crucially, if the main actor is able to fully grab the viewers attention and hold it as formulae and ennui threaten to take control. Enter Samuel L. Jackson as Ken Carter.
Jackson, the work-horse that he is, has a CV that is as up and down as an automated Big-Dipper. What isn't in question is that he is always value for money, even in garbage like The Man. Here, he elevates Coach Carter above the yarn status that it looks on the page. Ken Carter was a rich character, a man who wanted to keep his charges out of prison and the morgue. To get them to be all they can be as they move from being boys to becoming men, both on the court and in the classroom. Basketball is merely one slice of the pie, Ken Carter wants them to be fully formed young men. And Jackson plays it absolutely perfect. Blending sophisticated hard-assery with steely determination, Jackson excels and makes the overlong running time well worth sitting thru.
Yes it's a bit paint by numbers, how could it not be really? But any film that has the gumption to put academia on the same playing court as hoop shooting deserves an extra plaudit. Aided by the exciting, and authentic looking on-court action {well done director Thomas Carter} Coach Carter, and especially Sammy Jackson, manages to deliver more than enough interest to make this one of the better sports movies of the last decade. 7.5/10