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Every year, there seems to be at least one film whose plot focuses on the little-guy team rising to the top.

The Great Debaters comes late 2007, but still manages to top the year's list of underdog movies.

The Great Debaters is about a debate coach who takes a Texas college team from their insignificant tournaments to a nationally broadcast face-off with Harvard University's prominent students.

Essentially, this plot is exactly the same as the one in Remember The Titans. (A black coach brings unity among his black and white players, and finds success. The Titans were not remembered because they lost, but because they were winners.)

In all of these films, the subjects never seem to be allowed to show any real hardship. Even though The Great Debaters is based on a true story, it lacks a struggle.

Instead, director and star Denzel Washington merely hands the students the trophies as they always battle the morally right side of the topic. It's very hard to imagine blacks in the 1930s arguing in favor of segregation and welfare living in the "Jim Crow South."

Throughout the film, the actors don't seem to become the characters, they more act the part. Their performances just didn't come off as genuine.

The sets throughout the film consist of only a few small locations. Had the sets and plot been on a broader scale, I might have had more interest.

Denzel Washington's lifetime career is based off one character. He is a hero with one facial expression and one way of communicating to others.

His role in The Great Debaters is almost indistinguishable from his role in Remember The Titans.

Washington should've looked himself in the mirror and realized that if he was directing the film, he didn't need to be typecast as the lead actor. He has many dimensions open to him in the film world.

But he took the role as Melvin B. Tolson, the professor/debate coach of the historically black Wiley College.

A moviegoer can only take so much predictability. With The Great Debaters, there are many opportunities to guess the next scene and the exact lines even before they are said.

Washington's performance is not bad, it is just nothing different. He is a safe actor who takes absolutely no risks, and it can be seen when you watch him on screen.

Another star, Forest Whittaker, although a fine actor, does not make or break the film.

The best part about The Great Debaters is the actual debaters. Even though they did not get to battle any risqué subjects and they always took the easy side of the dispute and won, it was still somewhat enjoyable.

The Great Debaters is not exceptional, nor terrible, just another film to be added to the "uplifting" sport's dramas.

If you are a sucker for this type of cinema, then you will most definitely enjoy it. But if you think Denzel Washington should find a new role and take a few risks, or you didn't like Remember The Titans, this movie is not for you.