# Love & Basketball (2000)

### reviewed by
Mac VerStandig

Love and Basketball 1 and 1/2 Stars (Out of 4) Reviewed by Mac VerStandig critic@moviereviews.org http://www.moviereviews.org April 16, 2000 be posted to Moviereviews.org on April 21, 2000. Rather, as it was covered as part of Filmfest DC 2000, it will appear in that section of Moviereviews.org immediately. However, in recognition of the upcoming national release, no advertisements of the review will be made on Moviereviews.org outside of the FilmFest DC page.

---Please note, a copy of this review has been posted to http://www.moviereviews.org/ in the Filmfest DC 2000 section. However, in recognition of the upcoming national release, no advertisements of the review will be made on Moviereview.org outside of the FilmFest DC page. A copy may also appear in a future edition of The Stage Newspaper. Mac VerStandig's radio review of the film will air on WTPN-Radio on April 21, 2000---

Love and Basketball is a mawkish, overly-poignant and clichéd movie that mindlessly bounces along without ever making a clear statement. For the majority of the two-hour running time, the latter half of the title watches from the bench as the picture makes a faulty bounce-pass at romance and family values in the court of life. At the end, the viewing experience is no more pleasurable and just as frustrating as rooting for the destined-to-be-annihilated-opponent at a Harlem Globetrotters game.

As the `first quarter' (the movie voluntarily divides itself into four quarters that are as even in length as Muggsy Bogues and Gheorghe Muresan are in height) begins, we meet Monica Wright (Sanaa Lathan), the new girl on the block who is as much a tomboy as her older sister is a beauty queen. She aspires to be the first woman in the NBA and will, ultimately, have a career in basketball. But first she needs to overcome the preconceived notion, which her mother happily lives, of a woman belonging in a kitchen – not on the basketball court.

Before long, Monica is accepted in the neighborhood and befriends her next door neighbor, Quincy McCall (Omar Epps), who also aspires to NBA greatness. But for Quincy, the road is much more inviting with the aid of a father who is already playing in the league that so many youth dream of joining. As the two grow up together, their romance fades in and out with their destiny of belonging with each other being painfully obvious to everyone but the two aspiring athletes. Such relationships have grown tired on screen thanks to other abysmal films like Drive Me Crazy and Whatever it Takes and this duo do little to wake up the device.

As the quarters go on, the two children's personalities change possession. Monica ceases to be the over-aggressive, tempestuous tomboy that she was and finds a happy medium in life while Quincy turns away from the romantic, understanding traits he had grown up with and allows his ego to take over. There is little surprise when such turns take place as it can be expected that any athlete who turns pro in the movies (Quincy enters the draft after just one year of College) will develop such self-importance and any person who struggles to find acceptance (Monica doesn't break the gender barrier in the NBA), becomes humbled and wise overnight.

As the two become young adults, they round out their clichéd lives with family conflicts. Monica struggles with her mother who prefers to see her in a dress and pearls than a jersey and headband while Quincy is forced to deal with his father's unbiblical behavior with a female fan. These excess subplots do little to move the film through its two hours and could be as easily disposed of as Michael Jordan's baseball career.

The one place where the film does score points, sometimes at least, is in the game of morals. Writer/director Gina Prince does her predominately teenage audience a favor in showing the young couple use a condom when they first engage in intercourse. There is also a minor emphasis put on the importance of education although it may well be too little to late to have a real impact. Still, better some positive traits then none.

As you have probably gathered, the game of basketball takes a back seat to the game of life in Love and Basketball. Although I applaud the film for not feeling the need to use a dramatic last-minute buzzer-beater, something that too many films these days overuse, I find it ironic that this movie might well be one of the few that could benefit from such action.

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