He Got Game 1998, Rated R Touchstone Home Video

Buy it from

Starring Denzel Washington, Ray Allen.

Whether I choose to admit it or not, Lee has captured the true essence of playground basketball and the hopes and dreams of the game's ballplayers in He Got Game. This is most evident in the moving and mesmerizing opening montage. Lee combines quick shots of ballers around the country shooting at backboards nailed to barns, on playgrounds, and in gyms, with static shots of the players looking into the camera, with Aaron Copland's haunting score playing in the background, to create one of the most memorable montages of the last ten years. Lee's use of Polaroid filters and locations in both Chicago and New York City truly offset the quality of the opening credits from the rest of the film.

This is both good and bad. Good, because the montage is reason enough to rent He Got Game; bad, because this film peaks before the main characters have set foot on-screen.

Ray Allen, of the Milwaukee Bucks when the NBA isn't locked out, stars as Jesus Shuttlesworth, a 6'5", three man, who has been named the number one high school prospect in America. Allen has one week in which to make up his mind as to which college to attend, while trying to figure out which people actually care about him and which people are just with him, and being friendly to him, while trying to make a buck. Unfortunately, with the exception of one or two of his teammates, Lee's script has most everyone wanting something from Allen. Even Allen's father, the be-afroed and incarcerated Denzel Washington, wants something from him son; if Allen chooses to attend Big State University, the governor of New York's alma mater, Washington will be released early from his prison sentence, necessitating that the father and son work on their strained relationship with one another.

Lee's look inside the life of Jesus Shuttlesworth is realistic, yet not as probing as I was expecting. Having never been a highly touted prep ball player myself, I figured I was going to learn something more about the college basketball recruiting process that I previously hadn't known. This is not the case with He Got Game. Allen has agents calling, coaches calling, and has to beat off the legions of beautiful, morally casual women who want to sleep with him with a stick, but these were the elements of recruiting that I had expected, and had read about to some degree in the misconduct reports filed against the Notre Dame football team. Beyond these actions though, Lee doesn't make much of an effort to delve into the relationships Allen has with his classmates, friends, or girlfriend.

Washington and Allen deliver superior performances, Allen's acting being especially noteworthy when compared with the other "actors" the NBA has to offer in Gheorghe Muresan, Michael Jordan, and Dennis Rodman. His displa.html>spla.html>spla.html>spla.html>splay of emotions was surprisingly broad for a first time performer and his basketball skills, which were definitely on display, are excellent... not that I couldn't take him in a game of one on one though.

Lee's style of direction, often using superimposed images of two of more characters in the same shot, with the occasional well planned dolly shot, was a visual treat, but his script was too meandering and slightly too preachy--after screening He Got Game, it seemed Lee was sending the message that being the best high school ball player in America is a bad thing--to have He Got Game be considered as a revolutionary basketball film like White Men Can't Jump or Hoop Dreams.

Neither of the NBA superstars go to Hollywood Movies was breathtaking, but He Got Game, with its wonderfully filmed pick-up games and ravishing opening montage is the only film to choose. See this one.