There is a time and place for schmaltz......

Rating: Null/10 (19 November 2002)

My white, nine-year-old son sat through this movie crying and laughing in equal measure. Having been raised in England in the 1990s / 2000s he has little knowledge of US civil rights issues and history.

All I know is , at the end of the film, he voiced his complete lack of understanding of racism and his joy that such fundamental wrong could be overcome. (In more succinct and less pretensious words!!)

Yes, the movie is trite and cliched. Yes it takes more than a couple of football games to overcome deep-rooted bigotry. But age, experience and education will show my son the true horrors. I'm just glad that movies like this help him to decide his where he stands.