Sports

Love & Basketball

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Love & Basketball mixes sports and love by following two friends through their lives on the court and with each other.  It’s not a great film, but it is the type of film that bridges the gap and provides a sports flick which couples can enjoy together.

Love & Basketball
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“It’s a trip, you know.  When you’re a kid you see the life you want, and it never crosses your mind that it’s not gonna turn out that way.”

Love & Basketball follows the lives of two children (Kyla Pratt, Glenndon Chatman) who grow-up to be best friends and share a love for the game of basketball.  As they reach maturity Quincy (Omar Epps) struggles with the stress to reach the NBA and prove himself as a better man than his womanizing father (Dennis Haysbert).  Monica (Sanaa Lathan) struggles through playing college ball to near empty auditoriums before graduating and moving overseas to follow her dreams.

One of the film’s strengths is the dichotomy it shows between the men and women’s game and the perception and reality of each.  Quincy, a second-generation player is courted and recruited to play for sell-out arenas and Monica struggles to make a name for herself in a game with a far smaller following, all the while fighting expectations of those, including her mother (Alfre Woodard), who just want her to leave her aggression and the game behind and grow into a successful and demure young woman off the court.

Whether she’s a better actress or just given the better role Lathan’s half of the movie seems to have more resonance than Epp’s storyline.  Perhaps it’s her constant struggle not just with her circumstances and the expectations of others, but the expectations of herself which help round her into a more interesting character.

Of course the film is also cursed with cliches from two genres – sports dramas and romantic comedies.  The film weathers most of these scenes pretty well, even the awkward other love interests the story throws in from time to time, and an ending which is a little too weak (and far too cute) for the rest of the film and includes a short speech which is guaranteed to get squeals from the women and earn equally loud groans from the men.  Some things are too corny, even for film.

I wouldn’t argue that Love & Basketball is a great sports film, but it’s far better than the insipid chick flick I expected going in to view it for the first time.  It has both heart and brains, and tells a compelling story of two people (though Monica’s story is the more interesting) struggling to live their dreams, make their careers, and find love.

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Blue Chips

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Nick Nolte as an old-school college basketball coach in need of help.  A script from the writer of Bull Durham, Tin Cup and White Men Can’t Jump.  Teams filled with former college basketball stars.  An unscrupulous booster.  And a look at the ethics of recruiting modern day players.  These are the ingredients brought together for Blue Chips.

Blue Chips
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“You took the purest thing in your life and corrupted it, for what?”

Pete Bell (Nick Nolte), a once great men’s basketball coach coming off his first loosing season, begins to feel pressure from the boosters, alumni, and university to make a change and hastily improve the record of his team next year.

Unable to sign the top recruits of today’s game who want more than just playing time (Anfernee Hardaway, Matt Nover), Bell gives into the pressure and allows the university’s #1 booster Happy (J.T. Walsh) to do whatever it takes to sign the players.

The film has much going for it including casting real players like Hardaway, Shaquille O’Neal, Bobby Hurley and Calbert Channey, Chris Mills, Rex Walters, Rick Fox, and others as players, and providing cameos for real coaches including Jim Boeheim, Jerry Tarkanian, and Bobby Knight.  The real players add some drama on the court, especially during the movie’s climactic final game, but it’s lessened by quick-cuts and fast pasted camera work which make you unable to see the game unfold.

Although there’s much basketball on the court the film’s main story is Bell’s struggle against his own ethics, which is not helped by learning Happy has gotten to his players before.  Mary McDonnell plays Bell’s ex and conscience who helps him put his recent actions into perspective.

Part of the problem with the film is although Bell’s character is layered and given plenty to do, most of the players are little more than sketches who only come alive in scenes where they are directly interacting with their coach.  Sure there are a few scenes in the film involving the players in class (including a groan worthy Shaq moment discussing English Literature) and the like, but it’s nothing new or memorable from what you have seen in countless other films.

With a good set-up and some nice pieces in place the real question is why isn’t Blue Chips more memorable?  Maybe disillusionment of a college sports isn’t a crowd pleaser, or maybe the script (which doesn’t measure up to Ron Shelton‘s other sports films) could have used a bit more tweaking.  There are many basketball films, but few tackle the subject from this angle.  It’s certainly not the best basketball film we’re reviewing this week, but it does have something to say about the game on the court and, even more so, in the shadows which everyone seems to know about but doesn’t like to discuss.  Even with its various flaws it is a film worth seeing and discussing.

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Mr. Woodcock

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Mr. Woodcock
  • IMDB: link

mr-woodcock-poster

How could anybody not laugh at statements and quotes like “Could I get a real bottle please? I’m an alcoholic not a Barbie doll.” or “You must like getting spanked Farley, I guess it runs in the family.“Let’s move past the fact that Mr. Woodcock is never going to be an Oscar contender and certainly has absolutely no redeeming qualities, but go in with a limp mind and a need to laugh and next thing you know your funny bone is going crazy.

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Glory Road

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  • Title: Glory Road
  • IMDb: link

“Nobody can take something away from you you don’t give them.”

Glory Road

After telling the tale of integration of T.C. Williams High School football with Remember the Titans producer Jerry Bruckheimer returns to familiar ground with this tale inspired by the true events of Don Haskins (Josh Lucas) and Texas Western, the first team to start five African-American players in an NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship Game.

In much the same way as Titans this film deals with the hardships and racism from both inside and outside the program.  As a Disney film it’s a bit cleaned up considering its subject matter, though it does contain one or two disturbing scenes which make you wonder exactly how it received its PG rating.

The cast is strong and there are some nice supporting performances, hey nobody plays an asshole coach like Jon Voight, and Emily Deshanel has a nice role as Mary Haskins.  Also worth noting all the players, including Derek Luke, Austin Nichols, Evan Jones, Schin A.S. Kerr, and Alphonso McAuley, who turn out good performances both on and off the court.

Because of the familiarity and similarities with Remember the Titans the film does have a been-there, done-that, feel to it at times.  I wouldn’t call it a great sports film, but it is a good one; the performances are strong, and there’s certainly enough here to recommend in a tale worth telling, and listening to.

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