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Love & Basketball

Starring: Omar Epps, Sanaa Lathan
Director: Gina Prince
Genre: Drama
Year: 2000
Rating: 3 / 5

Reviewed by Guest Scribe Puff Daddy

"All you need to know about life can be found in the game of Basketball." These are the words of a very wise man. Okay, so that man is my dad; however, this is the simple message offered in the movie Love & Basketball. This movie has taken a simple game of pass-the-ball, shoot-the-ball into a touching story of love's ups and downs.

A very simple technique used by the movie demonstrates the fact as the movie is divided into four quarters. This is the first step in developing the metaphor. Love & Basketball is written as a script of small runs. Each character struggles through being on the losing end of the 8 - 0 run. Sanaa Latham's character Monica Wright demonstrates this best in her struggles through her freshman year on USC's Women's Basketball program. Monica's experience shows how quickly any team can jump from being down by 12 to up by six as she wins the starting job halfway into the season.

However, the movie lacks the true substance necessary to distance itself from being mediocre. The metaphor becomes diminished as the story moves toward a typical girl meets boy; boy realizes that he likes girl, boy screws up, and girl forgives him. Love & Basketball switches the roles to offer a different perspective to the aforementioned storyline; however, the story is still basic. The switch of gender roles does not create enough interest to fight the feel of the traditional love story. The strongest example of the switch of traditional roles has to be Monica's relationship with her mother. The movie offers a unique look at a daughter rebelling against her traditional, housewife mother.

Monica is the typically tomboy who plays basketball and can whip the neighborhood star, Quincy McCall (Omar Epps). As they grow, we gather glimpses into the world of the NBA through Quincy's father Zeke, a retired NBA journeyman. It is a glimpse in the NBA that gives the confrontation between Quincy and his father, along with Quincy and himself. A broad theme of adultery and premarital sex becomes evident as the film discusses much publicized issues of promiscuous sex and bastard children. Quincy begins to question what, if any, of his father's lessons and advice is applicable in his life.

Although, Love & Basketball does discuss some interesting concepts, it is hard not see it as just a nostalgic movie of basketball in the mid- to late-1980s. With mentions of Magic and Bird and a wonderful soundtrack of 1980s African-American pop, the movie does provide a nice trip back the playgrounds days. With "I Go To Work" (Kool Moe Dee), "My Prerogative" (Bobby Brown), and "Candy Girl" (New Edition), it impossible not to reminisce about pick-up games in the playground with car stereos blaring. This nostalgia does create a very enjoyable film to watch, making Love & Basketball the proverbial "nice" movie.

Cast:

Certification: Rated PG-13 for language.
Running Time: 124 minutes.

Additional Info: Internet Movie Database
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