Freedom Writers (2007)
Directed by Richard LaGravenese
A young teacher inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves, and pursue education beyond high school.
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28 films that influenced Freedom Writers
What critics say influenced Freedom Writers
This drama recalls 1995's "Dangerous Minds," and many other films going all the way back to 1955's "Blackboard Jungle," the granddaddy of white-teacher-instructing-troubled-inner-city-kids movies.
If you've seen "Blackboard Jungle," "Up the Down Staircase," "To Sir, With Love," "Dangerous Minds" or "Stand and Deliver," you'll be way ahead of the story.
Both films, it should be said, are laden with clichés of the inspirational-teacher genre that go back to 1955's "Blackboard Jungle" and 1967's "To Sir, With Love."
This drama recalls 1995's "Dangerous Minds," and many other films going all the way back to 1955's "Blackboard Jungle," the granddaddy of white-teacher-instructing-troubled-inner-city-kids movies.
Sadly, it's way too easy to be cynical about a movie that follows the "teachers can make a difference" formula we've seen so many times, especially when the first twenty minutes comes across like a remake of the Michelle Pfeiffer vehicle "Dangerous Minds."
In "Dangerous Minds" Michelle Pfeiffer woke up her inner-city English class by getting relevant and quoting Bob Dylan.
The first thing that popped into my mind when I saw ads for "Freedom Writers" in January was that it looked remarkably similar to another true-life film about an inspirational female teacher at an inner-city school, "Dangerous Minds" (1995).
And way back in the distant sands of time I recall Danny DeVito preaching Shakespeare to recalcitrant recruit Marky Mark -- um, Mark Wahlberg -- in "Renaissance Man."
The list in this category is long, and the quality broad, ranging from To Sir, with Love (Sidney Poitier straightens up hooligans) to Sunset Park (Rhea Perlman coaches hoops!).
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LaGravenese—whose modest directorial debut Living Out Loud was most memorable for its unexpected grace notes and narrative curlicues (a massage, a dance routine), as well as its shrewd, against-type direction of Danny DeVito, Holly Hunter, and Queen Latifah—has gotten a serious case of the jitters here, organizing the film as a series of clunky, predictable beats and slick omissions.
As inspirational teacher movies go, writer/director Richard LaGravenese's ("Living Out Loud") take on a true story hues close to reality by using the real Freedom Writers' words and embracing the geeky earnestness of his main character.
In this fact-based drama from writer-director Richard LaGravenese ("Living Out Loud"), she plays Erin Gruwell, a high-school teacher who's so spunky and upbeat that you get the feeling she's not just from another ZIP code, but another planet.
Big question: Can writer-director Richard LaGravenese ("Living Out Loud") make this true story spring from the page without ramming it down our throats?
That territory has been covered in a myriad of films, including "Stand and Deliver," "Dangerous Minds," and the now 40-year-old "To Sir, With Love" (which is the racially opposite twin of FW).
But if you've seen "To Sir, With Love," "Dead Poet's Society," "The Corn is Green," or "Stand and Deliver" – to take a random sample – you've already seen much of this movie.
Dangerous Minds , Stand and Deliver --is based on a true story about a teacher who gets urban kids motivated lends some credibility.
If you've seen "Blackboard Jungle," "Up the Down Staircase," "To Sir, With Love," "Dangerous Minds" or "Stand and Deliver," you'll be way ahead of the story.
If you’ve never been exposed to Stand and Deliver or Dangerous Minds or Mr. Holland’s Opus or Dead Poets Society or Lean on Me or Music of the Heart or Finding Forrester or Pay It Forward or Take the Lead , then have at it: you’ll probably love it.
Coming after so many similar films—Stand and Deliver, Lean on Me, and, especially, Dangerous Minds come to mind—Freedom Writers has its work cut out.
…musical remake), UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE…
If you've seen "Blackboard Jungle," "Up the Down Staircase," "To Sir, With Love," "Dangerous Minds" or "Stand and Deliver," you'll be way ahead of the story.
The list in this category is long, and the quality broad, ranging from To Sir, with Love (Sidney Poitier straightens up hooligans) to Sunset Park (Rhea Perlman coaches hoops!).
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If you’ve never been exposed to Stand and Deliver or Dangerous Minds or Mr. Holland’s Opus or Dead Poets Society or Lean on Me or Music of the Heart or Finding Forrester or Pay It Forward or Take the Lead , then have at it: you’ll probably love it.
Coming after so many similar films—Stand and Deliver, Lean on Me, and, especially, Dangerous Minds come to mind—Freedom Writers has its work cut out.
How do we explain our perennial support for school-based films such as "Lean on Me," "Finding Forrester," "Mr.
But if you've seen "To Sir, With Love," "Dead Poet's Society," "The Corn is Green," or "Stand and Deliver" – to take a random sample – you've already seen much of this movie.