A huge surprise: a startlingly resonant yet unabashedly entertaining slice of American history, a popcorn movie with complex observations about, of all things, racism.
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Earns its emotional moments, and it takes the audience along.
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
A conventional, button-pushing but emotionally affecting tale.
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Has the outer form of a brave statement about the races in America, but the soul of a sports movie in which everything is settled by the obligatory last play in the last seconds of the championship game.
63
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
The script's hokiness flattens the performances.
50
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Denzel Washington, by now, could do this sort of role in his sleep.
Herman Boone was no doubt a terrific football coach, but the lessons to be drawn from his success in Alexandria are ambiguous, and Remember the Titans is too wrapped up in its weepy macho sentimentality to address them clearly.
40
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Distressingly shallow.
38
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
History as filtered through the faux-liberal prism of Hollywood's dream factory, and an insult, I believe, to the people who actually carried the fight and endured the pain for civil rights.