The Great Debaters

This is a film that is affirming and inspiring and re-creates the stories of a remarkable team and its coach.Read Full Review »

Ultimately an uplifting movie because it is about triumph.Read Full Review »

A triumph. Unapologetically old-school, in both the literal and metaphorical meanings of the term, Debaters overlays the story of social underdogs onto the familiar template of the stand-and-deliver saga, the staple of sports inspirationals like "Rocky," "Invincible" and "The Karate Kid."Read Full Review »

The Great Debaters is like one of those sentimentally revved youth-sports-team crowd-pleasers. This time, though, the sport is debating, and the setting is an elite black college in Marshall, Tex., in 1935Read Full Review »

For a film about the power of speech, it's the quiet moments of rapture that say everything.Read Full Review »

The film may be manipulative in its construction, and cliché-ridden in some of the incidents it recounts, but it has a good, large heart.Read Full Review »

Wouldn't it have been more fascinating if, just once, they had to argue, as all debate teams must, against their own beliefs? That would have really tested these amazing kids' mettle--and the movie's too.Read Full Review »

It's a great family movie, if not historically perfect, and something that a lot of people are going to like.Read Full Review »

Because it is so old-school Hollywood, with a weakness for standard moments and pat situations, The Great Debaters initially comes off as easily dismissible. Largely saving it from that fate is the presence and ability of Denzel Washington, who costars with Forest Whitaker and directs from Robert Eisele's script.Read Full Review »

An enjoyable, rousing film, despite its formulaic quality.Read Full Review »