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"He Got Game" Movie Review

Lynn Marquis

May 1, 1998

He's Got Game, directed by Spike Lee, has the potential to be a very good film. The acting is incredible. Denzel
Washington (Jake Shuttlesworth) is, not surprisingly, the most outstanding actor in the film. At first I thought that it was going to a great deal of convincing for me to believe Washington in the role of a convicted felon. But it didn't. And this movie just proves once again that Washington is a superb all-around actor. Additionally, Ray Allen (Jesus Shuttlesworth) a real-life professional basketball player is excellent in his film debut, although he wasn't given much opportunity to stretch in his role.

Regardless of your political views of Spike Lee, it is hard to discount him as a directorial force. Lee always does something a little different in his directing, whether it is in the way he edits, the type of film he uses, or the use of angles. This film is no different. He makes great use of 8 millimeter film in many sequences. Not being that astute to the film making world, I thought it looked more like a cool Nike commercial. Regardless, it was cool film footage. Additionally, he uses a great score of music to perfectly complete his montage of film visuals. The most outstanding being the opening sequence where Lee simply pays homage to the joy of basketball.

Unfortunately, I figured out the entire story in the first 5 minutes of the film. Because of this predictability, the plot was weak at best. Disappointingly, Lee resorts to cheap stereotypes to depict all white men as idiots who aren't to be trusted and all white women as cheap, easy, whores that will do anything to fuck a black guy. The only females in the movie that he portrays in a positive light are Jesus' younger sister Mary and his deceased mother.

The movie begins with the warden of Attica Prison in upstate New York offering to Jake Shuttlesworth, a convicted felon, a week out of prison if he can convince his son, Jesus, to sign with Big State. Jake's son is the number one high school basketball player in the country. He is being recruited by the pros and every university in the nation. Since Big State just happens to be the Governor's alma mater, in return the Governor has promised to reduce Jake's prison time if he can convince his son to go to Big State. Obviously, this Governor is not up for reelection.

Jesus, named in an obvious in-your-face form of symbolism, is the savior, the hope, the deliverer for all of his greedy, money grubbing low-life family members, friends and, yes, girlfriend from the hopeless surroundings of the inner city in Cony Island. Everyone wants him to go for the easy money. Jesus, true to his namesake, is a good, responsible kid who makes good grades, and raises his little sister after his dad is sent to prison for killing his mom. He handles all that life has thrown at him with inner strength and maturity not found in many people at any age. He is determined to stay on the college bound course encouraged by his deceased mother. He does well to fight off the illegal temptations offered to many young people in his position, but he is certainly no saint.

Jesus is not only dealing with "the most important decision of his life" as he makes his college decision, he now has to deal with his father popping back into his life - a father he has serious issues with. As in typical Lee fashion he tells his story through flash forwards and flashbacks to piece together the entire story line. Through these flashbacks we see Jake, drunk, pushing his young son to become the basketball player he never was, and we see the sequence of events that lead to Jake's incarceration.

There are plenty of cameos throughout the movie of college basketball coaches, professional basketball coaches, and NBA players. The movie does stress the importance of education, and denounces the temptation of easy money. And because of that, it is not a basketball flick. It is a coming-to-terms-with-life movie. In the last scene of the movie we see a sappy, cliche used to tie the different themes in the movie together. While I thought it was a sappy ending, it worked and perhaps the only way to end it.

The movie is too long and has way too many potholes to spend $7 bucks on. Unless you're a to-die-for Spike Lee fan, wait for the video.