When a job opening for a boy's basketball coach comes up at Sunset Park High School, volleyball coach Phyllis Saroka jumps at the opportunity, but only because it pays better. Knowing nothing about the game, she finds her team to be talented, but unfocused and easily discouraged on the court, especially since last season they won only two games of nineteen. Though the players are initially put off by her inexperience, her passion for success eventually wins them over, and by working together, they begin to win both on and off the court.

Sunset Park contains quite a few clichés, common to both sports and urban films, but despite that, I found it entertaining. Usually in these types of films, the coach is the team's savior, a larger than life figure that propels the team to greatness. However, in Sunset Park, both the coach and the team are flawed, have problems, and make mistakes. Sure, as is typical in movies similar to this, Saroka does help the players with their problems, both on and off the court, but they also help her figure out her life, if only indirectly. The main problem I had with the film is that it almost exclusively follows Saroka's viewpoint, with little time given to the supporting characters.

Video:
Sunset Park is presented in 1.33:1 – panned and scanned from the original aspect ratio of 1.85:1. Due to the cropping, the scores on the scoreboards in several scenes are either partially obscured or cut off, which is rather annoying, as knowing the score in any sports movie is important to keeping up with the film. The transfer has only a few specks and marks, none of which are that distracting. Colors throughout are natural, with accurate flesh tones. Blacks, particularly darkness or shadows, don't fare as well. For example, in chapter 26 when the team is together going from the dark tunnel to the court, the players bled together as one indistinguishable blob.

Audio:
Sunset Park is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 in English. The 5.1 track features some subtle game surrounds in the rears, though the track is still mainly based in the front channels. The film's music, however, makes adequate use of the soundstage. Dialogue throughout is clean with no distortion. Optional subtitles are available in English and French.

Extras:
Trailers for this film, Higher Learning, and Race the Sun.

Summary:
Sunset Park, while not that original, does make for an entertaining watch if you're a fan of this type of film. I imagine that the film's audience is already somewhat limited by the material, so it is anyone's guess why Columbia/Tri-Star would limit it further by releasing the DVD without a widescreen transfer. Couple this with a high MSRP and virtually no extras and Sunset Park becomes better suited as a rental, rather than a purchase.