Boaz Yakin's big sellout. The independent director of Fresh and A Price above Rubies yokes himself to producer Jerry Bruckheimer (Top Gun, Crimson Tide, etc.), for a Disneyfied "inspirational" sports film about the black football coach at a desegregated high school in an all-white conference in Virginia in 1971. (The inspirationalism inevitably spreads to brotherhood-of-man bromides.) It's based on a true story, but that doesn't help with the authenticity of the sports action. Seventy-five yards from the end zone, on the final play of the championship game, the coach calls for a surprise running play, while the opposing coach frantically exhorts his troops to "Cover deep! Watch the deep pass!" — and by golly, the play works! The pass defenders must have dropped back all the way to Missouri. Denzel Washington, Will Patton, Wood Harris, Ryan Hurst. (2000) — Duncan Shepherd
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