Coach Carter

The oft-repeated formula about a teacher who uses tough love to motivate supposedly hopeless charges to hitherto-undreamed-of levels of achievement gets a fresh telling in this fact-based inspirational tale about a California high school basketball coach. The hard-driving Carter uses a mixture of near-military discipline and high expectations to boost his lower-class team out of their previously lackadaisical play to victory on the court. But he demands that they meet his standards in the classroom as well as the gym, and when the students fail to do so, he cancels practices and forfeits games until they buckle down academically in order to earn a real chance at college scholarships that could be their ticket out of the urban blight in which they're trapped. There's obviously little that's new in this overlong picture--a cross between Hoosiers and Stand and Deliver--from Thomas Carter (no relation); still, it's played with the same mixture of slickness and gritty conviction that the director brought to Save the Last Dance, and Samuel L. Jackson brings a brooding intensity to the coach that's quite effective. The stable of youngsters who play the hoopsters are fine too, even if the subplots about them frequently slip into teen soap-opera territory. Ultimately, while Coach Carter's game plan is hardly filled with surprises, it scores higher than you might expect. Recommended. [Note: Available in either a widescreen or full screen version, DVD extras include a “Coach Carter: The Man Behind the Movie” featurette on the real-life coach Ken Carter (20 min.), six deleted scenes (13 min.), a “Fast Break at Richmond High” featurette about the basketball performances (12 min.), the music video “Hope” by Twista featuring Faith Evans (5 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a fine extras package for a solid bio-pic.] (F. Swietek)[Blu-ray Review—Jan. 6, 2009—Paramount, 136 min., PG-13, $29.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 2005's Coach Carter boasts a great transfer and includes a 5.1 Dolby TrueHD soundtrack. Blu-ray extras are almost identical to the previous DVD release, including a “Coach Carter: The Man Behind the Movie” featurette on the real-life coach Ken Carter (20 min.), six deleted scenes (13 min.), a “Fast Break at Richmond High” featurette about the basketball performances (12 min.), the music video “Hope” by Twista featuring Faith Evans (5 min.), and trailers. New to the Blu-ray release are the production featurettes “Coach Carter: Making the Cut” (19 min.) and “Writing Coach Carter: The Two Man Game” (9 min.). Bottom line: a fine extras package for a solid biopic.]