Pride is so faithful to the sports underdog movie formula that a plot summary seems unnecessary. Let's instead imagine a montage sequence, much like the ones interspersed throughout the movie: begin with the run-down Philadelphia Department of Recreation on the brink of closure. There you'll find Elston (Bernie Mac), the grumpy custodian of the PDR, and a gaggle of snickering, trash-talking, inner-city teenagers who use the center as a hang-out. Enter Jim Ellis (Terrence Howard), the city worker - who happens to be a former high school swimmer - sent to shut down the center. Cue the inspirational music as Ellis scrubs down and refills the grimy, abandoned pool and coaches the teenagers on how to swim. Toss in lessons about teamwork and dedication, watch the reluctant swimmers transform into a legitimate team, and see how it all leads up to the championship race at the end.
Taking place in 1973, the movie centers around the racial tension arising when the all-black PDR team competes against the all-white Main Line players. Too bad the tension is rendered ineffectual by the PDR team's one-dimensional opponents: the Main Line swimmers are cocky, their spectators snarl and boo and their coach (Tom Arnold) is a villainous caricature.
In spite of all its heavy-handedness, Pride at least manages to be light and fun. The filmmakers seem blithely unaware of how hackneyed their movie is, merrily charging through the checklist of generic sports drama. Characters sport goofy period attire and the soundtrack periodically blares soul hits as if to say, "Hey, look! It's the '70s!" While the movie tries to be authentic to the time period, it's not authentic to the city of Philadelphia: inner city Philly looks more like urban Louisiana, and that's probably because (aside from a few overhead shots of the Art Museum and City Hall) the movie was filmed in ... Louisiana. Pride reaches a crescendo of triteness when the Main Liners refuse to race at the PDR and Ellis and his team defiantly defend their home turf in response. Viewers won't know whether to cringe at the agonizingly contrived scenario or applaud the unabashed presentation of it. Like the downtrodden heroes of the movie, Pride doesn't have much going for it, but that doesn't stop it from being proud.
