# Love & Basketball (2000)

### reviewed by
Steve Rhodes

    LOVE AND BASKETBALL
    A film review by Steve Rhodes
    Copyright 2000 Steve Rhodes
    RATING (0 TO ****):  ***

LOVE AND BASKETBALL is a terrible title. As soon as you hear it, you expect the movie to be another lame, teenage romantic comedy, which are a dime a dozen at the cinema with most as forgettable as last week's lottery numbers.

I'm happy to report that writer/director Gina Prince's LOVE AND BASKETBALL is an ambitious and successful film that isn't a teen comedy at all, although the two charming leads, Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps, do pass through their teen years as part of the story.

Another delightful surprise about the film is that the writer takes an African-American cast and avoids the clichés that most such films of late have fallen into. Either they bulk up on stupidity and profanity (as in TRIPPIN') or they gloss it up so much (as in LOVE JONES) that the characters are completely unbelievable. In LOVE AND BASKETBALL, both of the main families are genuine with real aspirations and challenges. And both of the leads are endearing and eminently likable.

LOVE AND BASKETBALL tells the poignant story of two basketball players, one of each sex, who are next-door neighbors. Following a basketball metaphor, the writer divides the movie into four quarters of their lives with several years passing between each period. We watch the players progress from grade school to high school to college to pros. Even if the trajectory of their lives has some predictability, the details have one surprise after another -- just like real life.

When we meet Monica Wright, she's an 11-year-old, pigtailed, self-proclaimed tomboy, played with spunk by Kyla Pratt. She wants to play basketball with the boys since theirs is the only game going. The star of the local playground is her neighbor, Quincy McCall (Glenndon Chatman), the son of NBA star Zeke McCall (Dennis Haysbert). Quincy decides that Monica will be his girl, so they agree upon a 5-second kiss to seal the deal. He counts off his seconds like a referee at a wrestling match. But, this first romance of theirs doesn't last long.

>From high school to the pros, the leads are played by the same actors, Sanaa Lathan as Monica and Omar Epps as Quincy, and they are believable across the entire age range. To be fair, Lathan steals the show from a charismatic Epps. Rather than have both characters be superstars, the script wisely imbues them with different skill sets. Both are dedicated to their game, but being the star player comes naturally to Quincy, while Monica is a fighter who just barely gets a college offer.

The chemistry between the two is interesting and unusual. By the time they reach high school they have effectively become siblings. When Quincy's parents fight, he crawls into Monica's window and sleeps on her floor. Monica is a one-man or no-man woman, and in high school she dedicates her life to her sport. Dating is foreign to her, and her clothing and hair choices proclaim "not interested!"

Not surprisingly, they eventually become lovers, and you would be disappointed if they didn't since they clearly need each other and are so right for one another. Their lives, however, will go across many rocky roads. The pros, in particular, will not be quite what they or you might have imagined. Along the way the movie teaches some important moral lessons, but it is done subtly and never ends up feeling like Sunday school.

With two stars that you come to care about deeply, the movie's ending isn't unsatisfying just because it contains a fair amount of predictability. But, like the rest of the story, the writer manages to sneak in lots of little surprises. By the end, it's kind of hard to believe that Monica and Quincy are fictional. And I, for one, would very much like to hear about their next 4 quarters.

LOVE AND BASKETBALL runs 1:58. It is rated PG-13 for sexuality and language. Although the profanity was reasonably mild, some of the sexuality stepped over the bounds of what one would reasonably expect to find in a PG-13 film. Losing one's virginity, even if we are shown that they practice safe sex, does not belong in a PG-13 movie. Absent this scene and a couple of others, however, it certainly deserves a PG-13 rating. But with these scenes I do not think it is appropriate for kids under 13 or 14.

Email: Steve.Rhodes@InternetReviews.com Web: http://www.InternetReviews.com

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