Do you want to see ‘Coach Carter’?

Coach Carter (2005)

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All Critics
Top Critics

Average Rating: 6.1/10
Reviews Counted: 144
Fresh: 94 | Rotten: 50

Like a good point guard, Samuel L. Jackson is the clear leader on the floor in a film that critics say transcends its formula trappings to be inspirational. However, some have said the film is too preachy and too long.

Average Rating: 6/10
Critic Reviews: 35
Fresh: 21 | Rotten: 14

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Average Rating: 3.7/5
User Ratings: 384,723

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Movie Info

The true-life story of a coach who tries to teach his players that there's more to life than basketball is brought to the screen in this sports drama. Ken Carter (Samuel L. Jackson) was once a star player on the Richmond High School basketball team in Richmond, CA, and years later, after establishing himself in publishing and marketing, he returns to the school and to the team as the new basketball coach. Carter quickly sees that his work is cut out for him -- the team is having an awful season,

PG-13, 2 hr. 16 min.

Drama

Directed By: Thomas Carter (II)

Written By: Mark Schwahn, John Gatins

In Theaters: Jan 14, 2005 Wide

On DVD: Jun 21, 2005

Box Office:$67.2M

Paramount Pictures

This is supposed to be about setting high standards, yet it's full of fudged ultimatums; in the end I couldn't be sure whether its morality was complex or just confused.

March 25, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader

| Comment

J. R. Jones

Chicago Reader

Top Critic

Saved by bursts of energy and inventiveness.

July 5, 2005 Full Review Source: New York Magazine

| Comment

Ken Tucker

New York Magazine

Top Critic

Carter gives every sports-drama cliche a chance to play. No bad idea is benched.

January 27, 2005 Comment

Peter Travers

Rolling Stone

Top Critic

Too vicious to speak to bleeding-heart liberals, too pro-academia to speak to No Child Left Behind advocates, and too preachy to speak to youths.

January 25, 2005 Full Review Source: Village Voice

| Comment

David Blaylock

Village Voice

Top Critic

One of those highly effective conventional pictures that remind us that conventionality isn't always a bad thing.

January 14, 2005 Full Review Source: Salon.com

| Comment

Stephanie Zacharek

Salon.com

Top Critic

The appeal lies in the genre's mixed marriage of liberal sensibilities to conservative values, a happy American union that simultaneously acknowledges the fact of social injustice while insisting on the need for individual responsibility.

January 14, 2005 Full Review Source: Globe and Mail

| Comment

Rick Groen

Globe and Mail

Top Critic

With another in a long line of strong performances by Jackson, and some excellent basketball choreography, Coach Carter is fun, hopeful, occasionally silly and, what can I say, inspiring.

March 18, 2011 Full Review Source: ComingSoon.net

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Joshua Starnes

ComingSoon.net

Engaging film with a terrific message.

December 22, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media

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Nell Minow

Common Sense Media

Samuel Jackson returns to form behind a long string of disappointing performances as an ethically minded basketball coach at a tough inner city high school in Richmond, California.

April 16, 2009 Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com

| Comment

Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

While the film is over the top at times, Coach Carter has a big heart that doesn't shy away from challenging the American education system.

December 30, 2008 Full Review Source: Movie Views

| Comment

Ryan Cracknell

Movie Views Source: Movie Views

If you like your inspirational stories formulaic and predictable, Coach Carter is the ticket.

December 22, 2008 Full Review Source: DVD Review

| Comment

Felix Gonzalez Jr.

DVD Review

How terribly ironic that the story of an educator who dared to challenge the mental capacity of his students can produce a film that so shamelessly spoon-feeds its audience.

December 22, 2008 Full Review Source: DVD Review

| Comment

Felix Gonzalez Jr.

DVD Review

Extras on the disc include a documentary on the real Ken Carter, a 'making of' featurette, plus six deleted scenes.

December 11, 2008 Full Review Source: Apollo Guide

| Comment

Brian Webster

Apollo Guide

By making the choices the filmmakers did here, we get a movie that may not be profound, but it's both highly entertaining for its sports and fascinating for its social issues.

December 11, 2008 Full Review Source: Apollo Guide

| Comment

Brian Webster

Apollo Guide

It's Jackson's dominating yet enlightened performance that infuses the film with much of its vigor. (Blu-ray Edition)

December 11, 2008 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis

| Comment

John J. Puccio

Movie Metropolis

...the movie is more concerned with the characters than with the sport. So it's a movie for anyone to enjoy.

December 11, 2008 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis

| Comment

John J. Puccio

Movie Metropolis

A worthy addition to familiar triumph-of-the-underdog stories.

March 25, 2008 Full Review Source: Film4

| Comment

Leigh Singer

Film4

There's a kick butt performance from Samuel Jackson, the master of the take-no-prisoners motormouth school of acting, even if it is only a high school gym.

June 2, 2007 Full Review | Comment

Prairie Miller

Long Island Press

There's a kick butt performance from Samuel Jackson, the master of the take-no-prisoners motormouth school of acting, even if it is only a high school gym.

March 24, 2007 Full Review | Comment

Prairie Miller

Long Island Press

Far from groundbreaking--in fact, it doesn't have an original bone in its body--but as inspirational sports movies go, it's not half-bad.

March 1, 2007 Full Review Source: Film Journal International

| Comment

Ethan Alter

Film Journal International

More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Coach Carter

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Average sports drama that is predictable, Coach Carter doesn't do anything new or original. I felt that Coach Carter though good, was nothing great, and it was nothing new to the sports genre. The film is the same old, predictable formula. Everything you'd expect happens, despite this; the film manages to be good

January 9, 2012

Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski

Super Reviewer

A very engaging film, this is Samuel L. Jackson at his finest.

October 2, 2011

Eric Alvarez

Super Reviewer

Coach Carter Quotes

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1. Ken Carter: Basketball is a privilege ma'am. If you wanna play basketball on this team, these are the simple rules you have to follow if you want to want to enjoy these privileges. If you decide to follow these simple rules, I need you and the boys to sign these contracts.
– Submitted by Dennis L (4 months ago)
1. Timo Cruz: Teachers ain't supposed to touch students.
2. Ken Carter: I'm not a teacher. I'm the new basketball coach.
– Submitted by Dennis L (4 months ago)
1. Timo Cruz: Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. It's not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
– Submitted by Brad M (7 months ago)

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