Teacherly sports film, the athletic equivalent of Stand and Deliver and Lean on Me (with Samuel L. Jackson every bit the equal of Edward James Olmos and Morgan Freeman), a salute to a real-life taskmaster by the name of Ken Carter, who demanded that his high-school basketballers sign contracts agreeing to maintain a 2.3 grade point average, attend all their classes and sit in the front row, wear a jacket and tie on game days, address one another as "sir." The results were instantaneous: a total turnaround from the 4-22 previous season, a perfect 16-0 record until the academic reports rolled in and the coach padlocked the gym and began forfeiting games in favor of cramming. It's all perfectly predictable (a group shot of the team walking in slo-mo toward the camera at the state tournament: you could bank on it), but there are good lessons here, engagingly taught, for those who need them. With Rob Brown, Robert Ri'chard, Rick Gonzalez, Antwon Tanner, Ashanti, Denise Dowse, and Debbi Morgan; directed by Thomas Carter (no relation). (2005) — Duncan Shepherd
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