Review Copyright Rose Cooper, 2000

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In watching movies like Soul Food and The Wood, I saw Myself - as in, the larger Black community in which I came up - as I rarely have on the Silver Screen these days: everyday folk with dreams, aspirations, trials and tribulations, existing within a rich culture having little or nothing to do with the stereotypes of Black life put forth by far too many ignorant White - and Black - filmmakers too eager to compromise Our reality for a paycheck. But in Love And Basketball, and in its protagonist, Monica Wright, I saw shades of myself - as in, me - that were startlingly refreshing, and in a sense, cleansing, to see. THE STORY (WARNING: **spoilers contained below**) Love And Basketball is a tale of two friends who share the same hoop dreams: Monica Wright (Sanaa Lathan), a "plain girl" who wants to become the first woman in the NBA, and sets aside everything in her personal life to achieve that goal; and Quincy McCall (Omar Epps), a popular star on his high school and college teams, whose climb to the top is less blocked than Monica's is. Or is it? Monica's banker father Nathan (Harry J. Lennix) supports her efforts, but her mother Camille (Alfre Woodard) doesn't understand Monica's "tomboy" ways. Q finds himself situated between his bougie mother Mona (Debbi Morgan) and father Zeke (Dennis Haysbert); a pro player himself, Zeke tries to keep Q focused on becoming an educated man, while trying to hide a few skeletons in his own closet. As a struggling point guard Freshman, Monica quickly bumps heads with her Coach, as well as Sidra (Gabrielle Union), an upperclassman who is also a point guard. And as Quincy and Monica's friendship turns into something deeper, they also have to face the fact that pro basketball may not be quite what either of them expected - or even obtainable. THE UPSHOT To say "I loved this movie" would be an understatement. I felt more strongly about last year's The Best Man, but Love resonated with me in a way that even The Best Man couldn't touch. The fellas were tight in their acting. Omar Epps' capable turn as Q was to be expected; Epps has long been a solid actor, and his performance here was no exception. A bit more surprising was Dennis Haysbert's outstanding performance; he and Epps played well off each other, and his Zeke character provided a welcome spark to this film (as well as an important message to the aspiring pro ballers in the audience). Haysbert has definitely come a long way from his Major League days. The exception to the "strong males" rule was Harry J. Lennix; Nathan was pretty much mute, though Monica clearly identified more with him than she did her mother Camille. It is unfortunate that his character wasn't given much to do. But the women were, for me, what made this movie. Sanaa Lathan was nothing less than excellent as Monica; her passion for the game, and her passion for Q, were drawn out beautifully. Equally believable as a young woman experiencing her "first time", and a more mature, sensual woman playing "strip basketball", Lathan's all-too-brief love scenes with Epps brought Black Sexuality back to the mainstream movie audience as it hasn't been shown since Jason's Lyric way back in 1994. Alfre Woodard tears it up as a mother grossly underestimated by her daughter, especially near the end; Woodard is simply powerful, even in "small" roles. Debbi Morgan, whose movies as of late (especially Eve's Bayou) have made audiences all but forget her time on daytime soaps, was somewhat overwrought as the Done Wrong Wife; it's too bad that some of the time spent on her character wasn't devoted to Nathan and his role in Monica's life instead. And the Chick at the helm, writer/director Gina Prince, was strongest of all. Her performance here is reminiscent of John Singleton's strong entry into feature filmmaking (Boyz In The Hood), but only in the sense that they put out such good works in their rookie year. That, and the fact that both are Black directors, is where the comparison ends; life in Singleton's "Hood" was vastly different than Prince's vision of Hoop Life. And speaking of her vision, it was realized in innovative ways. Prince takes advantage of the basketball theme by breaking the movie into "quarters" ("First Quarter: 1981"; "Second Quarter: 1988"; and so on). She also used background music well (starting with Al Green's "Love And Happiness"); it's generally historically accurate, but more importantly, the music plays a real role in the movie, almost as if it were a character. This contrasts greatly with most modern hip hop-flavored flicks, where the music only provides a means of selling the soundtrack (and it's usually "music inspired by the movie"). Prince's use of "first person" shots during one of Monica's games, provided a unique perspective on that character's situation. And as writer, Prince put mostly believable words in her character's mouths; the actors made those words come to life, and the collaboration between writer/director and cast, was wonderful to witness. My one big issue was the turning point in Q and Monica's relationship. I had a very hard time believing that the thing which changed their relationship (trying to avoid spoilers here) would've really done so; since they both were in very similar situations, there's no way one of the characters should've been so pigheaded as to huff and puff about...that thing. While not a big enough issue for me to downgrade the movie's rating, it's a flaw that could've been easily addressed by Prince giving the characters a different conflict to stress over. Well, actually, there's another big issue I have with this movie. Turns out that it had a little something to do with The "Black Factor" - and in how a fellow reviewer, saw it. THE "BLACK - AND FEMALE - FACTOR"    [ObDisclaimer: We Are Not A Monolith] Making a long review even longer, and even though it's probably not good manners to do so, I feel driven to include and respond to this snippet of a pretty good review of Love And Basketball by Morgan Fouch, quoted in TNT's "Roughcut" newsletter: "A more interesting movie would have focused on her and the injustice that women athletes face in male-dominated sports where they are unable to compete professionally or be taken seriously by sports fans, writers and financiers. But to appease a non-discriminating black audience and to sell tickets, the love story, sports sequences and a hip soundtrack were thrown up front, drowning a potentially good film." -- Morgan Fouch on Love And Basketball My first reaction was to get snippy about this snippet, even though I hadn't yet watched the film, nor read the entire review, at that point. My second reaction, after reading the review and realizing that she's not only a Black woman, but also someone whose work I've read and respected in the past, was a bit more subdued, though I still took issue with the bit about "a non-discriminating black audience". My third reaction? Past the curiousness of her reaction to the love story and sports sequences (it is called "Love And Basketball", after all), she's Wrong. "Wrong" I say (in my highly- opinionated way of thinking) because as I saw it, there was attention given to Monica's plight, and on how Q's "red carpet" was vacuumed by the Monicas (and their mothers) of the world. Perhaps not enough direct focus, but the best filmmakers show, not tell; and for me, the contrast between the crowds and TV cameras at Q's games, and the small audience at Monica's, underscored the Female Factor quite well. But still, We have been lackadaisical in supporting quality Black movies - like this one, I opine - while crowding theaters the country over to see unadulterated "Booty" crap. While some of Us are certainly not part of that "non-discriminating black audience", too many of Us are. Which leads me to my final reaction: she's also Right. BAMMER'S BOTTOM LINE It's lovely when a film starring and made by Black folk can be held up as an example of good moviemaking, without the "...for a Black film" addendum. That it could also tell a love story without resorting to "Booty Call"-ism, is icing on a tasty chocolate cake. LOVE AND BASKETBALL:   back to top And that's the way I see it. Rose "Bams" Cooper 3BlackChicks Review™ Copyright Rose Cooper, 2000 EMAIL: bams@3blackchicks.com    ICQ: 7760005 http://www.3blackchicks.com/