He Got Game (1998) reviewed by: Paul B. Miller
Director: Spike Lee
In the pre-release hype for "He Got Game," marketers made sure that, by repeating the film's release date (May 1) over and over like a mantra, it was engraved in our memory. And yet a more appropriate release date for the Spike Lee's new film would have been one month before, on April 1, or the day after the NCAA Basketball Tournament finals (Kentucky won again, in case you forgot). For without a doubt one of the strongest sides of this solid but ultimately disappointing film is its definitive commentary on the sleaze and hypocrisy of the recruitment process in big-time college athletics.
Lee's portrait of Jesus Shuttlesworth, the most sought-after high school basketball player ever, communicates a convincing moral truism that all of us ordinary, anonymous people know or should know already: that fame and stardom, those most envied and coveted of attributes, are in many ways unenviable burdens, because you can no longer be sure just who your friends are and just who is gravy-training. If you were Kobe Byrant, how complicated would it be to go out and make a new friend? Whom could you trust?
Jesus is in fact surrounded by Judahs, including his high school coach, girlfriend, and uncle-guardian, who try to cash in on his lucrative future. He is left to fend for himself in a sea of sharks, a feat requiring almost as much skill as on-court prowess. In one particular scene, an NBA agent tries to woo the him with a Rolex and a Ferrari whose stereo system "costs as much as a small trailer home.". The real drama of the movie, however, revolves around a certain irony: Jesus's father Jake (Denzel Washington) also wants to profit off his son's talents. If he can convince Jesus to attend Big State University, the governor will cut short the time he is serving in the state penitentiary (for having accidentally killed his wife, Jesus's mother). Is Jake a gravy-trainer like the rest? Or is it a father's prerogative, especially given his circumstances, to make such a request of his son?
That dilemma unfolds brilliantly in the film, and Ray Allen's performance and presence on the screen are a wonderful surprise. His voice and delivery qualify him as a bonafide talent. Director Spike Lee deserves tremendous credit for both casting and directing here (NBA stars Travis Best and Rick Fox also give credible performances). And yet the film suffers from a certain unevenness. The very least I expected was unforgettable basketball scenes, and, granted, the one-on-one match-ups between Father and Son (one flashback when the father is twice the size of the son, one climactic scene when the son is a head taller) are well done. But the pick-up game depicted towards the beginning of the film rather disappointing. I have yet to see a fictional "basketball movie" that successfully captured the real rhythm of a full court game -- the moves, jump shots, steals, blocks, dunks, and fast breaks. While Lee assembles these elements in a fast-moving sequence on a grandiose scale, with lavish cinematography and the music of Aaron Copeland's "Hoe-Down," the scene suffers the same misfortune as the cathedrals in Spain: that is, we are not permitted enough visual distance to take in the entirety of the spectacle. Our vantage point is on the court, from within the lane, and I somehow kept wishing I had a cheaper seat. While other reviewers have referred to Copeland's sound track as "unforgettable," I found the "Hoe-Down" sequence to be incongruous, the sounds coming from the court drowning out the music and relegating it to the background. The "Appalachian Spring" introduction, accompanying images of people playing basketball all over the country, is more effective.
Those, however, are merely the quibbles of a reviewer who also happens to be a basketball fanatic. There are other weaknesses in the film that are more serious. We all know that one of Spike Lee's biggest problems as a director are the women in his films, and "He Got Game" is no exception. One of the potentially most interesting aspects of the story is the relationship between Jake and his daughter Mary (Zelda Harris), Jesus' younger sister. Mary is a strong character, whose relationship with her father is different from Jesus' and whose independence adds to the complexity of the other characters. Yet she dissapears almost entirely from the second half of the film in favor of the manly one-on-one confrontation between Jesus and Jake. Likewise, Jesus' Aunt Sally (Michele Shay) is a positive character, one of the few who refuses to even discuss the idea of profiting off her nephew, yet she too dissappears, never to be seen again, though kowtowing Uncle Bubba (Bill Nunn) reappears in a new Lexus. The other women who frequent the film are, frankly, sluts and whores, from the coeds at Tech University who like to sleep with basketball players, to the bare-breasted sex-kittens whose services are hired to convince Jesus to matriculate there. Jesus's girlfriend Lala (Rosario Dawson) doesn't fare much better. Her self-serving financial motivation is portrayed in a quasi-sympathetic light (there's no way her relationship with Jesus will survive, why not make some money off it?), but she also sleeps around behind his back, lies, and, in another flashback, is shown to be the one entirely at fault for an unwanted pregnancy.
But the episode that almost ruins the film, in my opinion, involves the relationship between Jake and the (yet another!) prostitute (Milla Jovich) whom he saves from the clutches of some evil pimp. Not only does she set aside her professional motives to pleasure Jake free of charge, he, of course, practically reforms her at the end. Though the performances in this sub-plot are decent, how can viewers possibly take such a preposterous cliche seriously?
In the end, we are left with a good film, but one with serious faults. I agree with Roger Ebert that the final scene is "daring and original" but I am more wary of its effectiveness. No doubt "He Got Game" stands above "White Man Can't Jump," "Blue Chips," "Hoosiers," "Eddy," et. al, but "Hoop Dreams" retains the title as the definitive basketball movie.
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