Film Review

‘Coach Carter’: True Story that Inspires

By Robert Kuhn (April 7, 2005)

“Coach Carter” is a movie based on a real life story of a men’s high school basketball team and is set in Northern California.  Coach Thomas Carter has been offered the job as the high school basketball coach of his alma mater Richmond High School.  Since he has graduated, crime has met an all time high and the graduation rate of students has plummeted.  This movie stars Samuel Jackson as Coach Carter, and a cast of team members including Robert Ri’Chard, Adrienne Bailon, and Sean Patrick Thomas. 

When Samuel Jackson (Coach Carter) takes the job of head coach, the team is extremely dysfunctional and is in serious need of discipline.  Coach Carter is the perfect man for this job because of his unique set of values in which he places school work, and graduation in front of basketball.  At first the team is unresponsive to the coach’s military type drilling and practicing, but as soon as they start to win games for the first time in years they buy into his system.  Coach Carter expects the boys to follow a set of rules including wearing a tie and blazer to school and keeping a grade average of 2.3.  When the boys have trouble staying on the right path and dealing with the distractions that tend to overcome inner city kids and that take hold of them as they grow arrogant because of their winning, the drama kicks in.  The team finally reaches a point where they are unable to follow the rules and this is where the real problems begin.

This movie is a great watch for anyone who is into sports, drama, or movies that are inspired by true events.  Although it is a little long at over two and a half hours, this movie is worth seeing.