Pride--Movie Review

Terrence Howard's soft-eyed, hard-bodied charisma ends up saving Pride, a conventional against-all-odds story, from drowning in a swimming pool of schmaltz. Is it the most original movie to come down the pike? No. But it's an honest movie that means well, and even though this story has been told before, there's no reason not to tell it again with source material this inspiring.

Howard plays Jim Ellis, an unemployed teacher working (and living) in the soon-to-be-abandoned Marcus Foster Recreational Center managed by Bernie Mac's Ellston in the heart of West Philadelphia, 1973. They're supposed to be packing things up, but Ellis decides to fill up the lap pool, if only for his own pleasure. When the city removes the hoop from the basketball court outside, he invites a group of teens inside to cool off. All he asks is that they follow the "no clowning" rules. Burly but not thuggish Andre (Kevin Phillips) challenges his authority by betting he can outswim Howard. He's wrong, and soon Howard takes the boys from swim lessons to a registered swim team: the PDR, Philadelphia Department of Recreation, or "Pride, Determination, Resilience."

The PDR faces all manner of hardships, from institutionalized racism to racism of the more casual sort, not to mention the Man threatening to shut Marcus Foster down and a drug dealer who wants Ellis to know that the boys are his. It plays out just as you'd expect, with complications in all the right spots and the requisite streams of tears underscoring the importance of the big moments. But Howard (Oscar-nominated for Hustle and Flow) brings a commitment to his performance that the other actors seem to instinctively respond to, elevating the by-the-numbers screenplay into a story with the power to move and inspire. And for a "based-on-a-true-story" melodrama, emotion trumps craft any day.