Set in an inner-city high school, Phyllis Saroka, a phys-ed teacher, applies for the higher-paying coaching job even though she knowns nothing about the sport. The squad takes umbrage at her incompetence and is initially uncooperative. But Phyllis wins the team over after connecting with its star player, Shorty, and a hyperactive bench warmer, Busy-Bee. -- Rita Kempley

By Desson Howe
Washington Post Staff Writer
April 26, 1996

In this insultingly dumb sports movie, Rhea Perlman becomes unwilling coach to a crowd of inner-city varsity basketballers.

In a tiresome, formulaic character development, Perlman goes from a blase P.E. coach who takes this job merely for the money to a supportive developer of her team's deepest aspirations. I think I'm going to hurl.

The team (which includes Fredro Starr of the group Onyx and comedian James Harris) goes through its formulaic stages too: from being lackadaisical and resistant to the idea of an ignorant, female coach to accepting the former "Cheers" waitress as their own Phil Jackson.

"We gotta start making some sacrifices for the [expletive] good of the team," Perlman tells them after a string of defeats. That's putting it to 'em, coach.

Contains exploitative descriptions of sex and violence, profanity and "human moments" involving Rhea Perlman.

By Rita Kempley
Washington Post Staff Writer
April 26, 1996

In "Sunset Park," a moronic Cinderella story about a losing basketball team turned around by a new, unexperienced female coach, Rhea Perlman proves that white women can't jump either. Set in an inner-city high school, this wholly derivative flick combines the on-court hoopla of "Hoosiers" with the white saintliness of "Dangerous Minds."

Perlman is annoyingly spunky as Phyllis Saroka, a phys-ed teacher who applies for the higher-paying coaching job even though she knowns nothing about the sport. The squad takes umbrage at her incompetence and is initially uncooperative. But Phyllis wins the team over after connecting with its star player, Shorty (rapper Fredro Starr), and a hyperactive bench warmer, Busy-Bee (De'Aundre Bonds).

If they teach her basketball, she promises, she'll teach the talented but undisciplined young men teamwork, both on and off the court. In the process, the coach also finds new purpose in her own empty life. She may look like Mr. Kotter, but Phyllis is just another Chips off the old block.

Sunset Park is rated R for language and drug use.