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LOVE AND BASKETBALL Send This Review to a Friend
The wonderfully entertaining new "Love and Basketball" is a rarity, a film about African-Americans that jumps ahead of films that strike a blow for racial equality and concentrates on what life is like for upscale families dealing with such vital problems as career, romance, personal and family relationships, marital problems, ethics, feminism--you name it. I'm all for films with race as a primary concern, but it is a breath of fresh air and sign of progress for a film to look upon its subjects primarily as people coping with life. That the film takes off from the perspective of dealing with the aspirations of a feisty young woman who wants to be an equal with men makes a statement all its own.
After a career writing for television, director-screenwriter Gina Prince-Blythewood scores a striking feature debut with this film co-produced by Spike Lee and Sam Kitt. She has created a fascinating character in Monica. We first meet her as a youngster determined to show she can play basketball as well or better than the boys in the neighborhood, including Quincy, the boy next door. There are some charming and amusing scenes before the film jumps ahead to when they are teen athletes in a California high school. Monica, immensely appealing thanks to a winsome, gutsy performance by Sanaa Lathan, wants to become a college basketball player as a step toward a professional future on the court. Quincy, also striking thanks to the charismatic acting of Omar Epps, longs to emulate the athletic prowess of his dad, a pro basketball star and role model.
It takes time for friendship and growing pains to blossom into romance between Monica and Quincy. But assorted problems surface, with both having much to learn about who they are and what they want. On the parental level, we are also swept into the realm of Monica's home life, and Prince-Blythewood gains from the fortunate casting of Alfre Woodard as Monica's mother. Dennis Haysbert is effective in the important role of Quincy's father, who turns out not to be all that Quincy has envisioned. The script veers toward soap opera at times, but recovers because the characters are believable and the film is so intelligent in touching on the problems women have in trying to balance careers and personal relationships, mothers who make choices involved in raising children and the need for men to rise above selfish inability to become attuned to the needs of women.
The smartly shot and edited basketball sequences generate sparks, but this is not one of those films about winning. Action on the court is always second to the larger picture. "Love and Basketball" bubbles with humor and life experience, even ranging to Spain when Monica gets to play pro ball abroad. By the time the film is over, we've taken a vivid journey with its fascinating characters. Don't pigeon hole this as a sports film. It's much, much more. A New Line Cinema release.
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