Featured Audience Ratings

• Cynthia S

  
  I really like Terrence Howard, and this movie was pretty good. Despite being super-sweet (to the point of saccharine), and being emotionally heavy-handed, I still had tears well in my eyes from time to time. While not overtly racist, this film was subtly racist. In the entire film… More
  I really like Terrence Howard, and this movie was pretty good. Despite being super-sweet (to the point of saccharine), and being emotionally heavy-handed, I still had tears well in my eyes from time to time. While not overtly racist, this film was subtly racist. In the entire film there was only one positive white character, and he was only shown briefly at the beginning. Many of the white characters were blatantly, and ridiculously evil. BUT..I understood the meaning of the movie, and I did enjoy it.

• Jameson W

  
  I really liked this film alot. It's simple, very formulaic, but it is also very touching. Terrence Howard gives a very good performance. I'd recommend this film to anyone.

• Alexander W

  
  Swim films make good pick me up films with a very sporting motif underlying the movie pitch. Slightly let down in the fact that it was about this, haha, but still 4 stars for being good.

• William D

  
  [size=3]"Pride" is one of those simple, conventional but uplifting movies about at-risk youth defying the odds and learning to believe in themselves.[/size] [size=3][img]http://www.getoutaz.com/story/images/photos/bklmsvkd.jpg[/img][/size] [size=3]The film is set in 1974… More
  [size=3]"Pride" is one of those simple, conventional but uplifting movies about at-risk youth defying the odds and learning to believe in themselves.[/size] [size=3][img]http://www.getoutaz.com/story/images/photos/bklmsvkd.jpg[/img][/size] [size=3]The film is set in 1974 Philadelphia in the heart of what is often called the "inner city." [I, by the way, live in the "inner city" -- Washington Heights, NYC -- aka "the ghetto."] The neighborhood is falling down around the people who can't afford to leave. Destitution and drugs are everywhere. It's a struggle for teenagers to escape the clutches of the local drug lords, who are the only people offering well-paying jobs.[/size] [img]http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/1165269/photo_05.jpg[/img] [size=3]As usual in this genre, there's a saintly adult who teaches the kids to dream big, and as usual there's some kind of hobby in which they immerse themselves. In this case it's something that is especially counter to the inner-city lifestyle: swimming. There are few sports as white as swimming.[/size] [size=3]The role of the encouraging adult is here played by [b]Terrence Howard[/b], the man who gave "Hustle & Flow" and "Crash" such remarkable soul. Unfortunately Howard here stays on the straight and narrow. He stays tightly within the conventions of this genre.[/size] [size=3]The same goes for [b]Bernie Mac[/b], who acts against type by not cracking jokes but who also stays firmly within the conventions. I'm disappointed that first-time director [b]Sunu Gonera [/b]kept his actors in such check. This is not an auspicious directorial debut.[/size] [size=3]Along with the story of the teenagers, there is the saga of the local Recreation Center, which was allowed to fall apart just like everything else in the neighborhood. As the kids are building their swimming skills, they're also working to breathe new life into the downtown Rec Center, hoping that the city will start funding it again. I'll let you guess as to whether they succeed.[/size] [img]http://www.getoutaz.com/story/images/photos/l5gogc0r.jpg[/img] [size=3]What would have been great is more complex story-writing about the Howard and Mac characters. All we get here is that their lives were hemmed in by racism. Of course that should be part of the story, but it's just about all we learn about these men. The same goes for the boys in the story. We never really get into these boys' hearts. Lord knows that black kids aren't only faced with battles against racists and drug lords. There's a lot more going on in the ghetto than that.[/size] [size=3]But as predictable and platitudinous as the story was, I was still moved. I cried during the film a number of times. You'd have to be made of stone not to. I still enjoy seeing movies about Black and Latin kids resisting the forces that be. And it's also still important to nurture filmmaking about Black experiences, even when the output isn't stellar. Ghetto kids who see this film will be moved; there's no doubt about it. That's worth a lot more than an artistic masterpiece, at least on certain levels.[/size] [img]http://www.austinchronicle.com/binary/4896/Pride.jpg[/img]

• Dan S

  
  From what I saw of it, totally cliched and very familiar, no originality at all.

• Fascade F

  
  It was a heart warming story of a community center on the way out of business. Time framed in the seventies based upon a true story, this movie will compel you to sit and watch until it is finished. Soul stirring performances Terrence Dashon Howard and Bernie Mack....fighting against… More
  It was a heart warming story of a community center on the way out of business. Time framed in the seventies based upon a true story, this movie will compel you to sit and watch until it is finished. Soul stirring performances Terrence Dashon Howard and Bernie Mack....fighting against the odds to save a community center and a community, this was an enjoyable film.

• Lesley N

  
  I love swimming movies, even though actors can't swim for toffee. Plus this ones got Terrence Howard in it, hurray, Though Terrence Howards in everything

• Philip P

  
  No its not the most original story anymore after both titans and Glory Road, but with these sports movies its all about the genuine heart the actors must relay into the determination they are required to have to overcome the obstacles. In this racial story line Terrance Howard is such… More
  No its not the most original story anymore after both titans and Glory Road, but with these sports movies its all about the genuine heart the actors must relay into the determination they are required to have to overcome the obstacles. In this racial story line Terrance Howard is such a terrific actor its easy to ignore the familiar struggles and become engulfed in the fight for what these characters want to achieve and what they need to be happy.

• William G

  
  Fine but familiar.

• David S

  
  Another late night find, this is a 'type' of film that we've seen many times before but it is still very entertaining and Terence Howard and Bernie Mac are great. Maybe because I used to be a swimmer I enjoyed this more than most but the film worked for me. Perhaps it… More
  Another late night find, this is a 'type' of film that we've seen many times before but it is still very entertaining and Terence Howard and Bernie Mac are great. Maybe because I used to be a swimmer I enjoyed this more than most but the film worked for me. Perhaps it could have done with a bit more grit but these Hollywood true story films always leave a bit of a sweet taste behind. Pretty good though.

• Chosen 7

  
  Good film. Good performances by Terrence Howard and Bernie Mac.

Read all 11 featured audience ratings