Stand and Deliver

Based on true events, Stand and Deliver follows inner-city high-school teacher Jaime Escalante (Edward James Olmos) as he embarks on a campaign to prepare his rough-and-tumble students for California’s challenging AP Calculus exam. Filmmaker Ramón Menéndez delivers a slow-moving yet mostly compelling drama that benefits from Olmos’ consistently captivating efforts, as the actor turns in a subtle, affecting performance that goes a long way towards sustaining the viewer’s interest through the movie’s less-than-enthralling stretches – with Olmos’ top-notch work here undoubtedly matched by such first-class periphery players as Lou Diamond Phillips and Andy Garcia. (The latter is especially good as an investigator who eventually butts heads with Jaime over a scoring dispute.) And although the picture generally unfolds exactly as one might’ve anticipated, with this vibe heightened by Menéndez’s matter-of-fact approach to the material, Stand and Deliver nevertheless (and for the most part) comes off as a solid endeavor that effectively shines a light on an impressive real-life figure.

*** out of ****

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