Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows FanStore News Showtimes

Coach Carter

Play trailer 2:23 Poster for Coach Carter PG-13 Released Jan 14, 2005 2h 16m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
64% Tomatometer 146 Reviews 85% Popcornmeter 250,000+ Ratings
In 1999, Ken Carter (Samuel L. Jackson) returns to his old high school in Richmond, California, to get the basketball team into shape. With tough rules and academic discipline, he succeeds in setting the players on a winning streak. But when their grades start to suffer, Carter locks them out of the gym and shuts down their championship season. When he is criticized by the players and their parents, he sticks to his guns, determined that they excel in class as well as on the court.
Watch on Fandango at Home Buy Now

Where to Watch

Coach Carter

Coach Carter

What to Know

Critics Consensus

Even though it's based on a true story, Coach Carter is pretty formulaic stuff, but it's effective and energetic, thanks to a strong central performance from Samuel L. Jackson.

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View All (146) Critics Reviews
Nell Minow Common Sense Media Engaging film with a terrific message. Rated: 4/5 Dec 22, 2010 Full Review J. R. Jones Chicago Reader This is supposed to be about setting high standards, yet it's full of fudged ultimatums; in the end I couldn't be sure whether its morality was complex or just confused. Mar 25, 2008 Full Review Nathan Rabin AV Club Samuel L. Jackson shouts, yells, bellows, and screams his way through the fact-inspired film Oct 6, 2006 Full Review David Nusair Reel Film Reviews ...a decent-enough inspirational sports drama... Rated: 2.5/4 Feb 18, 2023 Full Review Eddie Harrison The List Despite the attraction of fluently filmed basketball sequences, director Thomas Carter's simplistic approach to the social and educational issues involved makes this vacuous MTV-produced movie fall well short of the basket. Rated: 2/5 Apr 23, 2019 Full Review Leigh Paatsch Herald Sun (Australia) A quality sports drama. Rated: 3/5 Sep 27, 2018 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (1000+) audience reviews
Yakking With F i watched it at school its was okay i give it a 3 of 10 i love basketball Rated 3 out of 5 stars 04/21/25 Full Review Yash B An inspiring true sports story is like comfort food to me, and "Coach Carter" is no exception. This feel-good story is consistently entertaining and kept me engaged. Samuel L. Jackson gives a great lead performance here and it is what makes the film memorable. I do think the movie falls into some genre trappings but there are also moments where it feels like it is very different from the rest. This movie is long but it covers a lot of ground, so I felt the pacing was mostly good. I like the messages in the movie and think young people could take away a lot of terrific lessons from it. I also enjoy the sport of basketball and think the sports sequences are a rush to watch. Overall, it is a very good sports movie that gives genre fans what they want, and also celebrates a true story that is well worth telling. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 04/19/25 Full Review College V An amazing amazing movie, the emotions, the thrill, the coach’s resolve, the length, everything was done right and realistically it had me screaming Richmond at my PC lol. No unnecessary drama and sends a perfect message Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 04/18/25 Full Review Audience Member I only put this 5 star out of fear of doing 1,000 suicides and 25,00 push-ups. This movie is smooth I guess. I will never forgive them for that ending that they had. They should have made the state championship. I hate this movie for the ending but pretending the ending don't exist ts fire twan. If you got a problem with ts review imma find you and make you run suicides. The end. on folknem. btw Paul S has dementia Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/28/25 Full Review Jerod S No surprises on this insp sports film led by Samuel L Jackson. Channing being a bad boy is kinda humorous. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 03/05/25 Full Review DennisFeinsteinCEO We need more movies based on inspirational true stories these days. This movie is loaded with great actors and a fantastic message 👌 Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/24/25 Full Review Read all reviews
Coach Carter

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Coach Carter

Coach Carter: Official Clip - The Final Shot Coach Carter: Official Clip - The Final Shot 1:55 Coach Carter: Official Clip - Push-Ups and Suicides Coach Carter: Official Clip - Push-Ups and Suicides 2:07 Coach Carter: Official Clip - Richmond vs. Bay Hill Coach Carter: Official Clip - Richmond vs. Bay Hill 2:04 Coach Carter: Official Clip - Not Your Storybook Ending Coach Carter: Official Clip - Not Your Storybook Ending 2:13 Coach Carter: Official Clip - Timeout Pep Talk Coach Carter: Official Clip - Timeout Pep Talk 1:56 Coach Carter: Official Clip - Come-from-Behind Win Coach Carter: Official Clip - Come-from-Behind Win 2:11 Coach Carter: Official Clip - Our Deepest Fear Coach Carter: Official Clip - Our Deepest Fear 1:59 Coach Carter: Official Clip - First Practice Coach Carter: Official Clip - First Practice 2:12 Coach Carter: Official Clip - A Better Life Coach Carter: Official Clip - A Better Life 2:09 View more videos
Friday Night Lights 82% 85% Friday Night Lights Watchlist Resurrecting the Champ 61% 60% Resurrecting the Champ Watchlist Freedom Writers 70% 87% Freedom Writers Watchlist TRAILER for Freedom Writers The Great Debaters 80% 86% The Great Debaters Watchlist Swimming Upstream 61% 80% Swimming Upstream Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis In 1999, Ken Carter (Samuel L. Jackson) returns to his old high school in Richmond, California, to get the basketball team into shape. With tough rules and academic discipline, he succeeds in setting the players on a winning streak. But when their grades start to suffer, Carter locks them out of the gym and shuts down their championship season. When he is criticized by the players and their parents, he sticks to his guns, determined that they excel in class as well as on the court.
Director
Thomas Carter
Producer
Brian Robbins, Michael Tollin
Screenwriter
Mark Schwahn
Distributor
Paramount Pictures
Production Co
MTV Films, Tollin/Robbins Productions
Rating
PG-13 (Sexual Content|Language|Some Drug Material|Teen Partying|Violence)
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jan 14, 2005, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Jun 15, 2011
Box Office (Gross USA)
$67.3M
Runtime
2h 16m
Sound Mix
Dolby SRD, DTS, Surround
Aspect Ratio
Scope (2.35:1)
Most Popular at Home Now