He Got Game

We could see just one more story about a man who loves his son, but which suffers from various handicaps, like being on parole and being watched all the time, like having no wife anymore due to killing her, and like his son being one of the most stellar basketball players of his time and this man being truck-loaded with the burden of convincing him to go to college. The film marches to the pace of the two leads, Jake Shuttlesworth (Denzel Washington) and Jesus Shuttlesworth (real-life NBA player Ray Allen, which makes a startling debut), as they have continuous face-offs: Jesus won't accept that he has a father, and won't listen to him, being more interested in becoming an NBA star, as the managers, the limelights, the fame and the fortune keep calling him like the chant of the sirens. Jesus is a young boy with a foot on each side. And he is facing options, choices he will have to make, and traps he will have to avoid. As a friend of his says (in the movie's most memorable quote) "How do you spell pussy? H. - I. - V.". This could be one more tale of choosing between college or fame and fortune, ths could be one more tale of a destroyed father-son relationship, but this is Spike Lee, and the treatment is totally different. It starts with an incredible hommage to basketball, shot like a picture poem, to the sounds of Aaron Copland, whose music flows through the whole movie and makes it look more beautiful and poetic. A characteristic Spike Lee movie, which introduces us to a new way of facing sport dramas. To be cherished.

I had to remind myself several times Denzel Washington was an actor and that he was playing a character named Jake Shuttlesworth--his performance is that good. I'd give him the Academy Award for Best Actor. I'm serious--he's amazing. In terms of the film, it isn't quite good enough to support his performance. (We are expected to believe there's no one looking out for Jesus [everyone in the film has an ulterior motive], and Jesus himself is too much of a saint.) Definitely worth watching, though--any Spike Lee film usually is. But I'm annoyed at Lee: he's too good a director to insert the MTV-style shots in this film. Unlike so many who have tried to cover basketball before, however, Lee knows the game. This gives (the all-white) Hoosiers a run for its money as the best basketball film… of course, there isn't much competition.

It finally happened, and the movie we all thought Spike Lee would make became reality. With Lee's own little foray into the basketball world, I always wondered when he would create a story which reflected his unique views of the game. While sometimes over sensationalized, he depicted a seedy world comprised of two-faced individuals all the way down to the seedy high school coach to the professional agent. I also felt it depicted some very frank images of the cultural aspects of athletics, the sex, the money and the little freebies. While the film didn't need the story between Denzel Washington and Milla Jovovich, it was strong in most aspects. It was a bit of a change of pace for Spike Lee, considering the graininess of the film stock and the rather mundane colors. Also, Ray Allen had one of the best pro athletes-turned-actor performances in a long time.

My two favorite Spike Lee movies are "Clockers" and "He Got Game" and they share similarities: both are about guys trying to keep integrity amidst characters whose primary motives are to persuade him to leave the path.

"He Got Game" gets the edge because I love basketball and because I'm a sucker for well done father-son conflicts. The basketball parts of this movie are absolutely brilliantly shot. Most sports movies share two commonalities: completely ridiculous storylines and actors who throw like sissies. He Got Game avoids both.

Okay, some parts of the story are hoky, but allowable. But what makes this movie work, similar to "Clockers" is that you get sucked into a main character whose nobility is tested at every turn. Will Jesus Shuttlesworth make it through the maze or fall prey to it? And will he be able to recognize that his father is not just one more flesh peddler? It makes for good drama. But above that, the basketball scenes just completely rock. They're examples of absolutely masterful cinematography and editing. In fact, the movie has some of the best montage sequences every put on film. Seriously.

Denzel is excellent in this movie. He plays a Jeckyll and Hyde and plays both sides well. This conflicted character was very easy to root for. (I can identify.) NBA perennial All-Star Ray Allen, while more than a little stiff at times, holds his own as a non-actor in a dramatic role.

He Got Game is a flawed piece of work: parts drag, it's not without its hokiness, and the subplot with Denzel and Jojovovich didn't quite fit. But the essential storylines work and play true: you believe in a conflict between father and son and you root for a high school basketball player who requires the wisdom of an adult to avoid the flesh peddlers. Kudos to Spike for not trying to hit us over the had with his message, but letting it unravel naturally.

Director Spike Lee's ode to basketball is one of those frustrating experiences that appears to be a possible slam dunk, but ultimately ends up fouling out mainly because of an uneven story and a nearly invisible tone. Denzel Washington is serving a prison sentence for killing his wife in a domestic dispute. While away, his son has grown to become high school basketball stand-out Ray Allen (a real-life NBA player). Governor Ned Beatty promises to shorten Washington's sentence if he can convince Allen to attend Beatty's alma mater. He has one week to accomplish his goal. Naturally Allen is outraged by seeing his father again and creates a shell to keep Washington out of his life. At first this seems like a good thing, but what if all of Allen's so-called friends (coaches, relatives, girls, agents and fans) are the true antagonists here and Washington is the flawed hero? Lee is never sure what he wants to do here. The movie plays out like a chaotic basketball game with lots of action and memorable action, but in the end you do not want either team to win. Washington and Allen's relationship takes up some airtime, but so do others that leave almost as fast as they appear. The corruption in collegiate athletics and within sports agencies is also given an interesting glimpse, but alas those topics are not explored completely. "He Got Game" looked like it would match the brilliance of William Friedkin's "Blue Chips" (a flawed, but important movie), but just does not seem to have the coaching necessary. Washington is impressive and handles the material as well as he can. Allen is a complete revelation. Anfernee Hardaway had stolen the show from Nick Nolte in "Blue Chips" and Allen pretty much does the same thing in this one. Ray Allen seems to have unlimited potential in front of the camera and his gift could be developed more fully after his playing career ends. I have said for years that Ray Allen should be the best player in the NBA, but he has ultimately disappointed me throughout his professional career. Allen is not the problem here though. Lee's sporadic direction and a meandering script end up sending "He Got Game" to the locker room way too soon. 2.5 out of 5 stars.