Coach Carter Movie Review

Movie Review
Coach Carter
2005
Director: Thomas Carter
Cast: Samuel L. Jackson (Coach Carter), Rob Brown (Kenyon), Ashanti (Kyra), Channing Tatum (Jason)
Movie Review by Derek Grimes

When it happened in 1999, I’m sure Coach Ken Carter had no idea that one day he would be featured in a movie. Back then, he was just looking out for his students and his athletes. Ken Carter returned to his alma mater to take over a sorry basketball program that lacked discipline, fundamentals, and class. The team had only won four games the year before, and Carter showed his toughness and his determination by letting some of the leading scorers leave if they were not willing to follow his instructions.

And when his basketball team failed to get the job done in the classroom, he locked them out of the gymnasium. And for a period of time, he cancelled practice. He cancelled the games. He made his student-athletes sit in the library and study and work to get their grades up before they would return to the court.

This was unheard of for anywhere in American, not to mention a mostly minority inner-city school. The story was amazing and the public was in uproar.

Five years later, Ken Carter’s semi-heroic and honorable methods were featured in a movie. Thomas Carter, no relation to the real coach, along with MTV Productions decided to make a movie entitled Coach Carter as a Hollywood done piece of the story of Ken Carter’s efforts with the Richmond High School basketball team. The question of who to play Coach Ken Carter was answered by none other than Samuel L. Jackson.

Jackson is strong in the film, selling his hard and tough speeches with conviction. His passion looks unparalleled. His presence and voice take this movie to the next level of sports movies.

As the team, few players stick out at individuals. They are vivid enough to show the diversity of the team. Channing Tatum plays the white boy on the team. Robert Ri’chard plays the freshman coach’s son, who’s only way to get a spot on the team is to drop out of his high class private school and pledge to work twice as hard as everyone else. Rick Gonzalez is the gun-toting youth, involved in drugs and mixed up in a vast assortment of different troubles.

However, one character that does stand out is played by Rob Brown. He and his girlfriend, played by R&B star Ashanti, have to deal with the decisions of a high school pregnancy. Brown has to figure out either to give up his dreams and stay with his girlfriend to raise the baby, or to go to college and play basketball and eventually get an education and a degree in order to provide for his family. The issue is controversial from every angle, as Ashanti’s character has to flip flop between the decision of having the baby or not having the baby. This subplot is dealt with differently, with little emphasis being put on the outcome. However, with the strong acting by both involved, audience feels into their struggle even without the intense focus.

This is a sports film that takes a different action on how to be portrayed. A lot of clichéd sports movies of modern times focus less on the game and more on the school story. The drama on the athletes lives. This movie focuses almost squarely on the issue of the student athlete and how that term is getting misused. Instead of focusing on the drama of an athlete’s life, Coach Carter puts the drama on how the game is coached and it puts the drama in the student’s life. It is nice to see that someone is finally documenting in an entertainment film what the students go to school for.

Ken Carter was one of a kind when he knew it in 1999. Hopefully this film opened more eyes.