This movie was awful in more ways than one but I will mention the two good things.
1.) LL Cool J
2.) Woody and Wesley together
Besides those two things this movie--to use a football term--missed wide left. The idea of a white woman leading a group of Black and Brown men is so totally tone deaf. Not only did she not belong on the field, she didn't even belong in that school. Yet, they made it seem as though she was so committed to her goal of coaching that nothing could stop her. She would even brave the seediest parts of town to get her star quarterback.
This movie wasn't inspiring nor was it funny. The thought that this group of high school minorities were nothing but losers until their golden-haired savior came is nauseating. Whether she knew her X's and O's or not is immaterial. The implication was that these capable but marginalized men couldn't, or wouldn't succeed without this woman.
And to make it crystal clear, they made her a super-coach. She went into inner-city Chicago, to one of the worse schools in the area, and not only coached them, but she got them to obey her, they won several games, and all this without the benefit of even one assistant coach. Bill Belichick couldn't accomplish that. I guess if you're going to make a fictional movie you might as well go for fantasy.
There are inspiring stories out there, even funny ones. This wasn't one of them.
1.) LL Cool J
2.) Woody and Wesley together
Besides those two things this movie--to use a football term--missed wide left. The idea of a white woman leading a group of Black and Brown men is so totally tone deaf. Not only did she not belong on the field, she didn't even belong in that school. Yet, they made it seem as though she was so committed to her goal of coaching that nothing could stop her. She would even brave the seediest parts of town to get her star quarterback.
This movie wasn't inspiring nor was it funny. The thought that this group of high school minorities were nothing but losers until their golden-haired savior came is nauseating. Whether she knew her X's and O's or not is immaterial. The implication was that these capable but marginalized men couldn't, or wouldn't succeed without this woman.
And to make it crystal clear, they made her a super-coach. She went into inner-city Chicago, to one of the worse schools in the area, and not only coached them, but she got them to obey her, they won several games, and all this without the benefit of even one assistant coach. Bill Belichick couldn't accomplish that. I guess if you're going to make a fictional movie you might as well go for fantasy.
There are inspiring stories out there, even funny ones. This wasn't one of them.