A non-debatable crowd-pleaser

On this special day of friends and family gathering together, it isn’t always easy to find a multiplex choice that won’t offend anyone in the gang. So if you are looking for an uplifting, educational, crowd-pleasing picture to reflect the tenor of the holiday, “The Great Debaters” just might be your ticket.

True, it’s a bit schmaltzy and lacks plot suspense. You don’t even need to have seen any of the many previews to know just where this feel-good period drama is going. But Denzel Washington’s able second outing as director — after the well-received and similarly wholesome “Antwone Fisher” — also stars him in the kind of dignified, crusading role that brought him to leading-man prominence.