Trite pablum

Rating: Null/10 (23 July 2001)

Maybe this movie suffers because I saw it such close proximity to genuinely good movies (Traffic, Shawshank and Ordinary People). And I am sure that if I was ten or eleven it would have been good to watch. But the truth is this movie has problems, lots of them.
It is "based on a true story." After seeing the movie, I can believe the following is true: (1) Alexandria, VA exists; (2) the high school there has a football team; (3) in 1971 it won a bunch of games; (4) the coach was newly hired, and black; (5) some people didn't like it, and it took some getting used to; (6) 1971 was a time, in general, in America, where racial integration was a source of bitter contention in many places; (7) Alexandria probably had some unease with the transition. Everything else about this movie has to be manufactured by Disney.
I think the low point for me was when Gary's girlfriend runs on the field to shake Junior's hand before the game. See, previously she was one of the people unwilling to accept blacks into the school. But now she's learned (somewhere off-screen) that she was wrong. (1) She recognizes it; (2) she has enough poise as a high schooler to admit her beliefs were ill-founded; (3) she picks a dramatic/extremely inappropriate moment to acknowledge her change. What poignancy! Gee, we learned a lot about ourselves. There were so many "movie conventions," flat, stereotypical characters and cliches in this movie that I felt cheated. The good characters learn something about themselves and change and grow, the bad characters are called out by the good characters - we don't know much about the bad characters, just that they're bad - and they are put in their place. The good guys win, the bad guys lose. Minds are changed. People grow. A soundtrack plays.
Also, remember Jerry Maguire? That kid was cute, audiences love that. Let's put one of those in our movie. We'll give her lots of lines, and we'll be constantly reminded how unusual she is - most little girls don't know football in depth, but she does!! - and hence, comedy.
Every time I tried to like this movie (and I went in hoping to like it) it spat out packaged non-reality that jarred me into deep irritation. This is not the worst movie of all time, but I felt patronized being asked by its producers to follow along. 2 out of 10.