“From the streets we were summoned.”

From Critical Thinking.

Mario Martinez (John Leguizamo) teaches chess and critical thinking as an elective class in a rough Miami high school. In a class of students that are mostly just looking for the easy pass, four students, Sedrick (Corwin C. Tuggles), Ito (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.), Roddy (Angel Bismark Curiel), and Gil (Will Hochman) stand out and do well in the extracurricular Miami-area chess tournament. Martinez is excited to take the four boys to regionals, but the high school principal, Ms. Kestel (Rachel Bay Jones), informs them that the school will be unable to cover the fees that are required to attend. Unwilling to let the boys miss out on a chance to prove their chess skills, Martinez covers the costs and gets them into the regional competition. Under Martinez’s guidance and encouragement, each of the boys win regionals and start looking for ways to find their way to the state tournament. Returning from the regional tournament to find he lost his job, Ito goes to work for a vicious drug dealer (Ramses Jimenez) and practically drops out of school. Sedrick finds himself fighting with his father (Michael Kenneth Williams) constantly, which threatens his focus on chess, so Martinez is thrilled to welcome Cuban immigrant Marcel (Jeffry Batista) to the team heading to the state tournament. Faced with a harsh life at home, Martinez and the five boys look for a way to earn the money to continue through the tournaments, master the game they love, and grow together as a team.

Based on the incredible true story, this movie packs quite an emotional punch for a movie about chess. Leguizamo centers the story, using well-timed humor to help the younger actors shine. The language and some of the intense situations will make Critical Thinking too much for younger viewers, but all others will find it to be a captivatingly inspiring story of hope and perseverance.

| Rated: NR | Running Time: 117 minutes |Genre: drama/biography|

||Family Viewing||Cursing: 7* of 10|Nudity: 0 of 10|Sexuality: 0 of 10|Gore: 2 of 10

|AVAILABLE FOR HOME VIEWING|