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Taking its cue from the life of Ken Carter, a California high school basketball coach who turned a team of underachievers into winners both on the court and in the classroom, Coach Carter essentially serves up nothing that we haven't seen countless times before in the Stand and Deliver⁄Lean on Me⁄Hoosiers⁄Remember the Titans tradition.

But even though it adds very little to that well-traveled inspirational genre, it goes to show that you can hit all the usual posts and still manage to stand out from the pack if you've got a guy the caliber of Samuel L. Jackson on your team.

Thanks mainly to his considerable presence, Coach Carter works more effectively than expected, although, carrying the unnecessary weight of an almost 21⁄2-hour running time, it doesn't always move with the grace of a trained athlete.

The big question is how many people will come out and pay to see something that seems so familiar, however truthful the source or noble the intention. Obviously Paramount and Tollin⁄Robbins, the production team who has done well in this arena in the past with such movies as Varsity Blues and Radio, are hoping for big turnouts, but the picture will probably have its greatest payoff on video.

Directed with a sturdy efficiency by Emmy winner Thomas Carter (Don King: Only in America), who, incidentally, is not related to his subject, the film takes a straight-ahead approach in retelling the events that brought Ken Carter first cheers and then jeers in his efforts to turn around the members of the Richmond High Oilers.

When Carter Jackson) returns to the school he attended -- still holding a number of his old team's records -- it's late 1998, and things at Richmond High have definitely taken a turn for the worse.

As it turns out, Carter has more than the basketball championship on his agenda. Sure, he successfully turns his team into contenders who have an enviable undefeated record, but when his players fail to keep their part of the bargain on the academic front -- he had them all sign contracts -- he padlocks the doors to the gym and benches the entire team until their grades improve.

That decision causes an uproar among parents and teachers alike, attracting national news coverage and assuring Carter a place in the inspirational sports movie pantheon.

The script, credited to One Tree Hill creator Mark Schwahn and busy Tollins⁄Robbins scribe John Gatins (Hardball, Summer Catch), gets the job done without really ever breaking a sweat on the originality front.

Although director Carter, who did well by Save the Last Dance, occasionally allows the necessary element of tension to slacken and the movie never sufficiently builds to a crowd-rousing crescendo, he gets committed performances out of his young cast, including singer Ashanti, who makes an impressive acting debut as the pregnant girlfriend of one of the players.

But it's ultimately Jackson, with a winning combination of no-nonsense authority and quirky charisma, not to mention a love of flashy neckties, who breathes life into the film bearing his character's real name.

He makes Coach Carter a guy you'd like to meet, even though you could have sworn you've met him many times before.

Coach Carter

Paramount Pictures

Paramount Pictures presents an MTV Films Tollin/Robbins production

A Thomas Carter film

Credits: Director: Thomas Carter

Screenwriters: Mark Schwahn, John Gatins

Producers: Brian Robbins, Mike Tollin, David Gale

Executive producers: Van Toffler, Thomas Carter, Sharla Sumpter, Caitlin Scanlon

Director of photography: Sharone Meir

Production designer: Carlos Barbosa

Editor: Peter Berger

Costume designer: Debrae Little

Music: Trevor Rabin

Music supervisor: Jennifer Hawks

Casting: Sarah Halley Finn, Randi Hiller

Cast:

Coach Ken Carter: Samuel L. Jackson

Damien Carter: Robert Ri'chard

Kenyan: Rob Brown

Tonya Carter: Debbi Morgan

Kyra: Ashanti

Timo Cruz: Rick Gonzalez

Worm: Antwon Tanner

Junior Battle: Nana Gbewonyo

Jason Lyle: Channing Tatum

Maddux: Texas Battle

Principal Garrison: Denise Dowse

MPAA rating PG-13

Running time -- 140 minutes...