The newest movie you've seen ten times before...

Last night I saw Lion's Gate new film, Pride, starring Terrence Howard, Bernie Mac, and Tom Arnold. It tells the all-too-classic story of a group of poor African American kids growing up in a rough neighborhood of Philadelphia in the 1970s. Their future's aren't looking too bright until Jim Ellis, (played by Howard), gets a job at their soon-to-be-condemned rec center and starts teaching them to swim. And then everything starts looking up for this rag-tag group of youngsters which, (of course), includes the shrimpy stuttering kid who's always the butt of the joke, the cocky know-it-all, and the tough guy who barely knows how to read, (spoiler: in a stirring moment near the end of the film he picks up a novel and starts reading). After many gruelling swim practices, (where we question whether Coach Ellis is being too tough- was that 100 laps really necessary?), some encounters with racism that make them look adversity in the face, (Tom Arnold plays the jerky coach of a competing team), and even finding their own repeatable mantra, ("This is our house!"), they somehow save the doomed rec center and find their way to the big regional swim tournament. And then when everything seems to be going well, the screenwriters, (or at least one of them- there are four listed in the credits), suddenly remember that they still need to get another fifteen minutes out of the movie, so they throw in a sudden out-of-character brawl, (which includes a brief but neat underwater fight), that takes a few minutes to resolve. Every once in a while, they also remembered to sneak in bits and pieces of a love story between Coach Ellis and one of his swimmer's older sister. It all seems to be going well as they share a piece of cake, but then she gets uncharacteristically mad, but then seemingly forgets about it in the following scene. I guess that's just how love works sometime... It's also tough to miss the often overwrought score which goes out of its way to hi-light the hopeful, triumphant, and tear-jerker moments to ensure you don't miss them.

So would I recommend this one? Well, maybe if you haven't see Coach Carter, Lean on Me, Stand & Deliver, Dangerous Minds, Take the Lead, or one of the other countless inspirational coach/teacher movies then this will be new and exciting fare for you, otherwise...

And this movie is also "inspired by trues events," although I have a hard time believing that anything in the real world is truly this cliche. I might get to interview the cast and the real Jim Ellis next week- I'll figure out what the real story is and keep you posted.