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Movie Review
Nothing New, But Not Bad
Latest inspirational sports movie isn’t a total washout
The Shorthorn Scene editor
— Courtesy art
Andre (Kevin Phillips) prepares for a swimming competition in the new
movie Pride, premiering Friday.
Like Remember the Titans with football and Glory Road with basketball,
Pride describes what happened when blacks began to compete in swimming
leagues. But while the others were based on true stories, first-time director
Sunu Gonera and his team embellished story arcs and events, leaving the
film with an “inspired by true events” label.
Even with those changes to the story of Jim Ellis and his Philadelphian
black swim team, the film still loses gas in between sports scenes. Storylines
with school struggles, romance and tension between the local youth and
drug dealers do little to pull at emotions. And as some of those storylines
end too calmly — or without much of an ending at all — it’s
evident they are truly nothing more than filler.
The swim meets are the film’s key ingredient, with innovative, smooth
cinematography profiling the swimmers in and out of the water. Add to
that the fact that the actual actors did the swimming, and it makes the
audience that much more eager to cheer.
Speaking of the actors, all give good performances, from the young Kevin
Phillips and Evan Ross to Kimberly Elise and Academy Award-nominated Terrence
Howard.
More of an underdog story than one about race relations, Pride is inspiring
and possibly tear-jerking. It’s likely to be added to the list of
movies the younger generation memorizes word-for-word, watching over and
over as soon as their parents buy the DVD.
So don’t fear, Pride isn’t a bad movie. Just expect a good
amount of cheese.
Pride
Starring: Terrence Howard, Bernie Mac, Kimberly Elise, Kevin Phillips
Director: Sunu Gonera
Rated: PG
Ranking: 3 Stars on a 1-5 scale
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