Politically correct stereotyped drama

Rating: 4/10 (26 December 2000)

This movie insults its audience.
Where should I start? To begin with, the cast is ok. Denzel is as usual, Denzel, but makes a good job. Will Patton is more softspoken and more believable. The rest fills in rather nicely as college students or inbred rednecks.
But every character is stereotyped, you know where the plot will take you, and the lines are so, so, so incredibly stuffed and rigid. Nobody says things like that in real life. Every line is like a well rehearsed speech (which frankly they are, since it's a movie).
The football matches are well shot, but not very interesting. If you don't know the game they are too short to really give a feel of the game. If you do know the game, they are too short to be exciting, as you never actually can follow a game in the movie.
Based on a true story, but nevertheless totally predictable, right up to the ending. Dull, dull, dull.
Oh wait, there's a message; Don't judge anyone because of their colour. Well, the bible could probably tell you that. As for the race issue, there are lots of other movies which both delivers the message better, and are better as movies. Like American History X, which tries to deal with the root of the problem instead of glossing it over like this movie does.