Remember the Titans... Overrated?

A Washington Post critic, Stephen Hunter argues that Remember the Titans, isn't as great a movie as people tend to claim.  The movie makes no compelling case because it's so formulaic and predictable.  He goes as far as to say you would not even need to watch the movie to understand what happens in it, because it has been done so many times before in so many better ways. There is also a lack in political correctness that he says takes away from quality of the film.  Hunter finally concludes with the reason why he especially did not enjoy the film was because of the simplicity of the message that it tries to teach the viewers.  He in fact believes that the film is in a way smug and so proud of itself, and that you can tell that everybody involved conceives of it as a civics lesson instead of a story.  Hunter is right when he talks about the lack of political correctness that Remember the Titans shows.  For it to be based off of a true story, and yet be so off tangent with the reality of what happened in history leaves somewhat of a bad taste in my mouth.  However, I do not think that just because the writers exercised their creative freedom to the fullest this resulted in a bad movie.  Though the situations depicted in the film may have been embellished, the issues that the characters in the movie were dealing with, were ones that were actually faced in that time period.  The message of the movie although simple is still a beautiful one, and one that the movie should be praised for teaching.  Brotherhood and love should have no conditions, and hate is obviously destructive. This is preached throughout the movie and as the team learned these things, they began winning and changing the community.  The film had a great message and they taught it to everyone who viewed it on their own terms.  If it was not a great movie because it was too simple, then that means times have actually begun changing for the better, meaning movies like Remember the Titans will soon become less relevant.  This is also why Remember the Titans should be heralded as one of the great sport drama films that has been created.  It took us back to the time where something as insignificant as having a black head coach and a white assistant coach was the cause for a lot of hate, violence and stress for all parties, and I enjoyed watching how the history changed for the better.  Although it was simple, the movie was based on a true story, and there was a lot of hate back in the times where the movie was set.  It is because of this  message that people began learning over time that Hunter can even afford to say that Remember the Titans is a simple movie.