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Coach Carter (2005)
Rate:
6
Viewed:
10/08
10/08:
Although Coach Carter has good points, it invites several bad ones as well.
Samuel L. Jackson is fine and should be doing more of the same because he has been appearing in crap films lately. The cast
turns in decent performances. However, the plot is too familiar, ringing loudly the feeling of "been there,
done it before." What I didn't expect is how far the discipline went. Hence, it's a warm welcome.
Moreover, I like the fact that there's stress on the idea of "teamwork" plus the fundamental importance of academics and life
coming first before basketball. That's why I like the movie a lot, and it should relate well to anyone today. Unfortunately,
schools nowadays are about sports first. The basketball scenes are top-notch with nothing fancy. So, I like to think of
Coach Carter as Hoop Dreams meets Hoosiers.
As for the negatives, the profanity is too much, and I'm disappointed in the language used by the coach.
It's counterproductive and goes against what I believe in. Never in my life have I heard a coach uttering a four-letter word.
I'm also disappointed by how lax the coach is, especially when his players were caught attending a party that's filled
with sex, alcohol, and probably drugs. I mean, what was that? It should've resulted in total expulsion of the involved
players. But somehow, the coach swept the incident under the rug and moved on. Also, it's ridiculous when each time a player
does something that's against the rules he's eventually taken back by begging.
Watching the interviews with former players and finding out they "graduated" from college, I couldn't help but notice the lack of
education by the way they sounded. Even worse, the coach would begin his sentence with "We was..." and "They was..." Come on, I
expected more from him.
Of the actors, I notice how good-looking everybody is. Sorry, it doesn't work that way in real world. Their actual ages at the
time of filming are hysterical: 27, 22, 23, and 26, and one was 31! The advocacy of abortion for female teenagers should've
been completely dropped. By the way, is it just me, or do the high school cheerleaders resemble strippers?
All in all, despite the MTV label, Coach Carter isn't a bad film, but it should be approached with caution.