Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search

December 2, 2008 12:20:36 PM CST

Learn about Newser Points »

« Back to the grid | Next story »

Debaters Inspires, Critics Argue

Posted Dec 25, 07 5:01 PM CST in Gossip,  Arts & Living 

(Newser) – The Great Debaters, which follows a Jim Crow-era black debate team, aims only for “inspirational pop entertainment in the Oprah Winfrey mode,” but it still manages to resonate, says the New York Times’ Stephen Holden. It is conventional, and sometimes clichéd, in telling the classic underdog story. “The wonder is that (it) transcends its own simplifying and manipulative ploys,” Holden says. “It radiates nobility of spirit.”

Denzel Washington’s second directorial effort feels “smoother and more confident,” says Newsweek’s David Ansen. His young actors find “subtleties and grace notes in roles that could have been clichés.” Nearly everyone complains that the team miraculously draws the “good” side of every debate, but anything else would disrupt the flow, says Roger Ebert, “and the flow becomes a mighty flood.”

Sources Rotten Tomatoes, New York Times, RogerEbert.com, Newsweek

0 comments | Print E-mail | Digg Seed this on Newsvine Add this link to Del.icio.us StumbleUpon

Related Newser Stories

  • Four Christmases a Big Turkey

    Nov 26, 08 9:46 AM CST
    Four Christmases a Big Turkey Holiday comedy Four Christmases had some critics chuckling but left most moaning ho-ho-no. Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon star as a couple forced by circumstance to visit the dysfunctional families of their divorced parents, but the "predictable and dyspeptic story" lacks the bite of misanthropic holiday classics like Bad Santa, Claudia Puig writes in USA Today.
    More »

  • Bolt Is Fetching Fun

    Nov 21, 08 1:18 PM CST
    Bolt Is Fetching Fun Disney's latest animated movie may not win prizes for originality, but Bolt is barking up the right tree for family entertainment, say critics. John Travolta voices with "terrific tenderness" the super-powered pooch who's unaware that his life has been a canine Truman Show, writes Michael Rechtshaffen in the Hollywood Reporter. Miley Cyrus is equally effective as his owner. More »

  • Madagascar Sequel Not Wildly Different

    Nov 7, 08 9:09 AM CST
    Madagascar Sequel Not Wildly Different Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa brings back the on-the-run New York menagerie, and DreamWorks hasn't monkeyed much with the first movie's winning, if slightly tired, formula, say critics. The celebrity-voiced animals' new adventure "is aimed mostly at children and should score a direct hit," Kirk Honeycutt writes in the Hollywood Reporter.
    More »

  • Porno Naughty But Nice

    Oct 31, 08 11:49 AM CDT
    Porno Naughty But Nice Indie director and slacker king Kevin Smith has made a surprisingly tender film with Zack and Miri Make a Porno, critics say. Elizabeth Banks and Seth Rogan star as a pair of "genuinely likable social misfits" whose platonic friendship is put to the test when they decide to make an adult film to pay the bills, Sean Axmaker writes in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
    More »

  • No Glory , Plenty of Cliches

    Oct 24, 08 8:02 AM CDT
    No Glory , Plenty of Cliches Pride and Glory has all the ingredients of a great cop thriller, critics say, but they're ingredients that have been recycled a few too many times. Edward Norton, Colin Farrell, Noah Emmerich, and Jon Voight turn in fine performances as a family of New York cops, Bill Goodykoontz writes in the Arizona Republic, but they are "cut off at the knees by stilted, clichéd writing." More »

In this file image released by The Weinstein Company, actor Denzel Washington is shown in a scene from "The Great Debaters". (AP Photo/The Weinstein Company, David Lee, FILE)   (Associated Press)
Actor Denzel Whitaker attends "The Great Debaters" film premiere at the Ziegfeld Theater, Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2007 in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Agostini)   (Associated Press)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
Denzel, Forest, Oprah - discuss The Great Debaters   (blacktreemedia (YouTube))
The Great Debaters Official Trailer   (Q3455 (YouTube))

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next »
Our editors also recommend:

Threads (
1
 of 1)

Tags

movie • movie review • Oprah Winfrey • civil rights • Denzel Washington


Loading...

Premium Articles from HighBeam

Find more articles like this

Today's Most Popular

Loading...

Other Arts & Living Stories

What is Newser?

2008 Codie Finalist

Face it: there's too much news. At Newser a team of editors and writers culls the most important stories from hundreds of U.S. and international sources and reduces them to a headline, picture, and two paragraphs. It's the Newser guarantee: we can take any report or column or video and pack what you need to know into 120 words or less. Newser's short-form aggregation, visual format, and unique information tools help you get more of the kind of news you want, in a quicker and more entertaining way. And we do it 24/7—you can come back morning, noon, night (and in between) for something new that matters. Read less, know more.

Learn more »