Love & Basketball

"Love and Basketball" is one of the most feminist and non-stereotypical teen-through-20something movies I've ever seen.

It's in effect a tribute to Title IX and the WBNA, casually showing a girl with basketball dreams, and how it affects her personal life and those around her. Highly recommended for teens!

As good as Omar Epps was though, I thought he was a bit short to be believable as an NBA prospect.

Except for one talky section of the movie towards the end where everyone pretty much says the obvious about their relationships, the rest of the character development is done visually and through situations and not one sports movie (or African-American) cliché. It is a date movie because both leads change.

Stay through the credits to see a sweet shot at the end.

I was girding for a hip hop soundtrack, but it's old school R & B all the way and lovely to listen to (complete with a wonderful line that the audience really appreciated: "Mom, why are you drinking? I haven't seen you drink so much since Marvin Gaye died."

(originally written 5/6/2000)