From the Rough

I am an alumnae of TSU and I was looking forward to seeing this movie. There was a buzz about it, then nothing. I was so happy to find it on Netflix tonight and couldn't wait to view it. I never heard of Coach Starks even though I attended the school during the late 1990s. I enjoyed the film for what it was, but I thought it would be...more. More epic, more real, more dramatic. I think more time was needed to really develop the story and characters, but the acting was solid. I almost cried when I saw Michael Clark Duncan! Also, I would have loved to see our beautiful campus and some shots of Nashville. Overall, it was a good movie. It just didn't live up to my expectations.

To bad this doesn't tell the story of the first golf team she had, which was actually all black players, 2 of which were injured football players and one girl. Wondered what actually happened to those first black golfers at the historically black college. The movie starts with one black golfer and 4 foreign players as her founding year.

Taraji P.Henson played the role of a caring, but tough, take-no-excuses coach perfectly. The movie was well done and sweet (although the British dude was a bit annoying). Taraji is a very good actress and hopefully her talents will be further recognized in Hollywood. She should be carrying mainstream movies. If there is a movie god, please never let this woman be relegated to lower roles such as maids, servants, slaves or second fiddle. Taraji proved that she can headline a movie with her performance in this movie. She carried it, and was tough as nails and looked beautiful to boot. Great for kids and inspiring for girls and young women of all hues. Michael Clarke Duncan, although only having a few speaking parts, was also good and Henry Simmons was fine as always.

The movie has a very interesting quote, about how we see the outer walls up high knowingly well that sooner or later, they will come down, and we'll be left with our own walls to deal with. So many things to learn from one single movie, most important being.. excuses don't work, whatever your background or resources you have, you can still win. And that should be the only aim. Loved the movie!

Currently watching this movie. I looked up further info about Catana. Everything I read said that her first team was all Black males not the mix as shown in the movie. Just wonder why they didn't make that part of her story authentic. Enjoying the movie.