Pride

PG

Released Mar 23, 2007

1 hr. 44 min.

Drama

List

47%

111 Reviews

Tomatometer

72%

100,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

In 1970s Philadelphia, Jim Ellis (Terrence Howard), who is driven by a love of competitive swimming, fixes up an abandoned pool building with the help of a janitor named Elston (Bernie Mac). But when city officials mark the place for demolition, he fights back by founding an all-black swim team. Facing racism, violence and a hostile city official, Jim struggles to prepare his novice swimmers for the state championships.

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Critics Consensus

Pride features a typically stellar performance from Terrence Howard, but ultimately falls victim to its over usage of sports movie clichés.

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Audience Member

On film, the genre formula forms predictability when it became the main base of storytelling with few kinks thought out into the narrative in attempt to deflect predictions besides signified by performative energy. When it comes to sports, there are generally two sides supportively rooting in anticipation towards a playing a team against their opponents, with predictions only made through bets based on statistics and previous strategized plays. Then for some reasons, the cinematic apparatus refused to follow that chance and makes bets irrelevant when most of the time the protagonist team wins, and rarely they do not without ever stopping them. Real-life teams, players, coaches and managers already generated facts through their runs that were shared through inner perspectives or/and literature before cinematically mesmerized on the screen whereas we see their struggles and the formation of defined teamwork and personal hardships reaching towards success. The outcome may have been guessed as the story progresses, creating their own obvious stats, but we find ourselves treating the film like any game with anticipation over who could win despite the predicted results. "Pride" is like all that as your ordinary game session worthy of minimal acclaim from Howard's performance inspiring dynamic team-building with faithful justice, countering social issues, albeit occasionally swerved by generic melodrama adding onto struggles on and away from the boards. (B)

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Formulaic, but it works! There are many movies telling similar, inspiring stories from around the globe, but there aren't many focussed on swimming/swimmers It goes without saying that Terrence's performance is stellar... not sure I've seen a bum one yet!

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/25/23

Full Review

steve d

Nothing new but it is fun and exciting.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Decent, light-hearted flick. Great performance from Howard, but the kids felt a bit amateurish.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Compellingly watchable.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/16/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This is the only movie that can be interesting about swimming

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/05/23

Full Review

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Sunu Gonera

Director

Terrence Howard

Jim Ellis

Bernie Mac

Elston

Kevin Phillips

Andre

Evan Ross

Reggie

Nate Parker

Hakim

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Keith Phipps

AV Club

The plot plays out as predictably as anyone might expect, but the fine details keep Pride squarely above average.

Rated: B-

Apr 5, 2007

Full Review

Josh Rosenblatt

Austin Chronicle

Pride's story was etched in stone ages ago by mysterious movie powers beyond our understanding, and all the Staples Singers' songs in the world won't keep it from its appointed rounds.

Rated: 2/5

Mar 31, 2007

Full Review

Richard Roeper

Ebert & Roeper

Director Sunu Gonera does a nice job with the swim meet scenes, and the cast of mostly unknown younger actors is extremely likable.

Mar 26, 2007

Full Review

Mike Massie

Gone With The Twins

Working closely with the real Jim Ellis, Terrence Howard's portrayal is moving and accurate.

Rated: 6/10

Nov 27, 2020

Full Review

Richard Propes

TheIndependentCritic.com

Howard seems to pride himself on portraying characters with both a deep sense of flawed humanity and a redemptive quality.

Rated: 2.5/4.0

Sep 20, 2020

Full Review

Debbie Lynn Elias

Behind The Lens

This is not a sports movie. This is a movie about a man involved in sports. This is Jim Ellis' story. This is a story of heart, conviction, motivation, determination, pride.

Nov 13, 2019

Full Review

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Synopsis

In 1970s Philadelphia, Jim Ellis (Terrence Howard), who is driven by a love of competitive swimming, fixes up an abandoned pool building with the help of a janitor named Elston (Bernie Mac). But when city officials mark the place for demolition, he fights back by founding an all-black swim team. Facing racism, violence and a hostile city official, Jim struggles to prepare his novice swimmers for the state championships.

Director: Sunu Gonera
Executive Producer: Michael Paseornek, John Sacchi, Malcolm Petal, Kimberly C. Anderson
Screenwriter: J. Mills Goodloe, Michael Gozzard, Kevin M. Smith
Distributor: Lionsgate Films
Production Co: Lionsgate Films, LIFT Productions
Rating: PG (Thematic Material|Some Racial Epithets|Language|Violence)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Mar 23, 2007, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 26, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $7.0M
Sound Mix: Dolby SRD, DTS, SDDS
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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