Jugada Perfecta

In Just Wright, Queen Latifah's love life isn't her strongest suit. She's intelligent, responsible, skilled in her craft, kind, and supportive - all the qualities men repeatedly tell her make her a great friend. Her sister, Paula Patton, gets all the dates instead. Queenie's a big basketball fan, but Paula's only interested in becoming one of the player's wives so she can brag and have lots of money. When a basketball player, Common, gets injured, he gets taken care of by Queenie (she's a physical therapist). Do you think there's a love triangle in the works?

Paula Patton is so convincing in her role of the self-centered, foolish pretty sister, you'll want to throw something at the television set. It's hard to believe she's just acting, but let's give her the benefit of the doubt. If you have a sister, cousin, or friend who thinks her looks and charm can get her everything she wants, you'll love to hate her in this movie.

I'm always partial to Queen Latifah, since she's one of my favorites, so from the first minute of screen time I was rooting for her to find true love. I love her energy and confidence, and that in so many roles she's got a great head for business. This is such a cute romantic comedy, it'll have you coming back to it again and again. I've seen it three times already!

Basketball and romantic comedy is a weird mix, but I happen to like both, so "Just Wright" worked for me. I'm concerned the producers probably thought that they were going to get the male sports market AND the female romance market, but they are very wrong on that. Too much corny romance for most male viewers and too many basketball references for most female viewers. This can probably only be enjoyed by romantic comedy fans who also like the sport of basketball.

The romantic comedy angle was very formulaic and obtuse. The entire story was laid out from the very beginning, and even earlier than that - it was all in the trailer. There was little depth to the characters and no depth to the situations. No laughs, no tears, but a few smiles.

If you won't get too pained by how obvious the story is, there are some positives. I enjoyed Queen Latifah and, surprisingly, the rapper Common was very enjoyable too. They both came across as likable people whom I wanted to succeed. The slim vs. fat conflicts were kept to a minimum because they aren't their weight, they are people. And, again surprisingly, there was even attempted thought put into the psychology of sports injuries. Although there is almost nothing new in "Just Wright", there is enough to keep fans watching.

I love a nice rom com on a Sunday, non brainer movie for a lazy afternoon. I also love basketball and Q. L and Common but gawddam this movie is like all the cliches came alive for an hour and something. A little too cringey for a rom com. Towards the finale I was watching through my palms like I was watching a bunch of people going (against advise) in a dark forest preparing for some chop chop (in a horror movie)

Overall is not that bad but prepare for rolling ur eyes while going "of course that happened".

Both Leslie Wright and cousin Morgan Alexander are big Nets fans; however while Leslie is a fan of the team, Morgan is more interested in landing herself a husband and becoming a NBA-wife. When Leslie chances upon a meeting at a gas station with loyal Nets point guard Scott McKnight, she gets an invite to his birthday party and of course Morgan springs into action. Morgan has the looks to capture her man but Leslie appears to have more in common with him. When Scott gets injured, Leslie is employed as live-in physiotherapist supporting his attempts to save his NBA career.

I didn't expect Just Wright to be a great film but I was happy to meet it on its own genre ground and play by its rules. The reason for this was my ongoing interest in Common's acting career; this is perhaps founded in bitterness since he has only done one album since he started focusing on the acting (and it was rubbish) – so I'm keen to see the projects that make the loss (IMO) of such a great artist worthwhile. Since he was the leading man here I thought perhaps this would be the one. The problems with it start immediately as the plot is overly messy, getting a lot of establishment done very quickly – meeting Scott, proposing to Morgan, getting injured, getting Leslie into the job; all work done just to get to the "once they spend time together they find one another" part of the film that we all know is coming. This rather serious and rapid stuff gives the first half of the film an overly earnest air that it doesn't warrant, can't carry and never escapes.

The second half of the film see the film become about the professional couple of Leslie and Scott and this focuses on them being together and finding a chemistry. It is obvious and a bit cheesy but it is what the whole film should have been like (and the film be only 90 minutes long as well). However this is not to say that this part is particularly good either – the main problem is that the material is not particularly inspired, nor is it particularly charming. It is this second quality that is missing most because this sort of film needs charm to make the formula work. Sadly the material doesn't produce it and the chemistry between the two leads is not all it should be.

This is not down to Latifah though, because she works her sparkle for every last drop – she literally gives 100% in every scene and it does show. Common, on the other hand, misjudges his material – partly because he has to deal with more of the "earnest plotting" in the first half. He carries his character too serious and too earnestly to get the mood right. He works "OK" with Latifah but the chemistry just doesn't work as well as it should and it is partly his fault. Patton looks good despite having a terrible character who is all about being a plot device in the weaker first half. Meanwhile the cast is packed with faces from black entertainment (Rashad, Grier) and lots of NBA players showing up – presumably to make the film more marketable thanks to their presence.

Just Wright does start to get a bit better in the second half when the messy and serious plot setting is done and Latifah's sheer work-rate starts to win the viewer over, but she cannot do it alone and indeed she doesn't. It is not an awful film but it should have been more formula focused, stayed closely to the genre and have delivered the material to match the effort put in by Latifah. Sadly this is another film that makes Universal Mind Control feel like an even worse album than it was.

A personal favorite, I love Just Wright, it's got the perfect romcom vibes and the leads have great chemistry. The storyline is simple and perfectly predictable. Common is a wonderful, handsome and sweet and he and Latifah compliment each other.