He Got Game

⭐7.5/10

This is a movie from the late 90s in which Denzel Washington is in jail, but the governor is willing to cut his sentence short if he can convince his son (Ray Allen) to play for the local Big State University (what a silly name). The problem is that Ray Allen hates his dad!

I had some familiarity with this movie because it always played on local TV, and while I knew they made some changes to make it family friendly (changing all the N-words to "joker"), I didn't realize just how much they changed. This movie is RACEY! There are a lot of boobs in this movie, which is a bit of whiplash because oftentimes this feels like a family movie, and other times it feels like a porno. 

Anyways, I think I liked this movie. I am wildly nostalgic for late 90s, early 00s basketball, and this plays on every trope. This is the story of Allen Iverson or LeBron James, kids from rough areas who are certain to be superstars, but have to deal with enormous pressure before getting there. This is a Spike Lee movie, one of the few filmmakers one could trust to tell a story like this, and he tells it very effectively. Ray Allen is such a bold choice for the leading man, having to act across from Denzel, but I think he holds up pretty well here! Who else could you trust to play a guy named Jesus Shuttlesworth besides a guy with a divine physique and a God-ordained jumpshot?

There are some terrific moments in this movie. I think the final faceoff is exceptionally done, filled to the brim with equal senses of rage and sorrow, hope and bitterness. It's quite the crescendo to a movie that builds up conflict pretty uniquely. I love that Lee shows the toll of poverty and pressure, that poverty so seldom creates a sense of solidarity. The strong sense of survival, or the pull of greed always winning out over friendship. I think this movie is a tragedy in a sense, that even at the end, Jesus has nobody that's truly on his side. 

But for that reason, the ending disappointed me. This is spoiler, so be warned. But the end played out as a weird hopeful and celebratory ending, whereas I thought it would have been far more effective without. I feel like the movie would have said a lot more has it ended right after the final showdown, or them never really reconciling. But this movie kinda has the worst of both worlds, and I know there is a point to that, but it didn't land for me and kinda just said nothing. 

Some other quick negatives to get out of the way is that the exposition is pretty brutal at times, few a few characters going on long rants, telling us what to think. It's pretty clumsy at times, and there are also a few moments that are classic 90s, trying to be super deep with melodramatic music, but kinda make you cringe. 

Still, thjs is a good movie I think, and there isn't really another like it. Things have also changed so that circumstances like this don't really happen, but also the player making it out of the projects isn't really a theme in modern basketball anymore. It's probably a good thing (non-pro players are typically more compensated now), but stories like these are less meaningful today. This movie is now a time capsule, and an absolute essential for fans of that era of basketball. Jess liked it, as a non-fan, but we both agreed that while it has awesome moments, as a whole it's not perfect.