The father, the son, and the holy hooker

He Got Game (1998)

Rated: R

Runtime: 136 minutes

Stars: Denzel Washington, Ray Allen, Milla Jovovich, Rosario Dawson

Director: Spike Lee

Plot: Jake Shuttlesworth (Denzel Washington) is serving a prison sentence for accidentally killing his wife. He prefers to cook his grilled cheese sandwich with an iron, and enjoys a cold orange soda. Jesus Shuttlesworth (Ray Allen) attends Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn and is the #1-rated basketball prospect in America. He spends his time hanging out with his cousin Booger, wears overall-shorts, and knows his Bible. Dakota (Milla Jovovich) is a prostitute living at the Surf Hotel, conveniently in the room next to Jake’s (we will get to that in a minute). LaLa Bonilla (Rosario Dawson) is Jesus’s girlfriend. Jake is “released” from prison for a week, and has to try to convince his son Jesus to attend Big State University. If he does, the governor will reduce his prison sentence. Jesus has to make his college decision while having to deal with family and friends all trying to get a piece of his future fame and fortune. Jesus is referred throughout the movie as “Coney Island Jesus”, not to be confused with “Black Jesus” (former NBA star Earl Monroe), “Basketball Jesus” (former NBA legend Larry Bird), or “Chocolate Jesus” (a song by current musician Tom Waits).

Rating—out of 5 basketballs: 3 basketballs. 1 for my recommendation of the movie, mostly so people will watch it and decide if they like/dislike it because I am not sure if my review is helpful, 1 basketball because I don’t want Spike Lee to hate me, and 1 basketball because I was able to include references to Larry Bird, Tom Waits, and Star Wars in a 1000-word review of a Spike Lee movie and have them make more sense than anything he tries to accomplish in 136 minutes of a film.

Tournament seed: 5–9—movie is favored to win its first game in the tournament and has a good chance to win a second game. But depending on the team it is matched up against, could be an early upset. Be sure to do your research before choosing.

This is a tough call. Spike Lee’s direction of this film is not that good, and the movie is all over the place. Hopefully, I will be able to sift through this mess and come to a conclusion by the end of my review. Public Enemy has a cool song in the movie, but there are also a variety of scenes with sweeping dramatic music playing, and that gets a bit annoying. There is a lot of sex and nudity in the movie: Jesus and LaLa have sex on a Ferris wheel; Jesus is getting a tour of Tech University and then he is getting his swerve on with Buffy and Suzie; and Jake (in the middle of helping and getting to know Dakota) borrows some money from his parole officer (played by NFL legend Jim Brown) to buy Dakota for the night and tries to take it slow with her, but it is over fast if you know what I mean. Some might find all of this awesome, while others might find it to be too much. The basketball scenes are pretty cool; Denzel has a decent jump-shot, but it’s all about Ray here. This movie was released in 1998, but his form (then) still looks as smooth as it does today, almost 15 years later. I have always been a huge fan of his, even though he is now with the hated Heat. The plot is good, father/son struggles mixed in with young love. But then it gets confusing to keep straight who is good/bad; Lala is cheating on Jesus, but Jesus cheats on Lala; Jake was a demanding father but now seems to have Jesus’s best interests in mind. Oh, and Jake did kill his wife ... albeit accidentally. And then there is the language. I know Spike Lee likes his “motherfucker” just as much as anyone else, and I am not going to argue his use of the n-word; he has every right to say it. I just don’t get why he has white characters saying it. With every Spike Lee movie there are powerful messages he tries to get across, but all I really learned from this movie is in 1998 a pair of Jordans would set you back $150, fist bumping was cool way back then, Jesus is a biblical name, Jesus Shuttlesworth was a better prospect than former New York legends Kenny Anderson and Stephon Marbury, drugs/alcohol/pussy will take a n****r down, it’s the will of the man not the skill of the man, and boy you got to get the hatred out your heart or you gonna end up just another n****r like your father ... though I learned that years ago from Star Wars. All of life’s big decisions should come down to a game of one-on-one, so Jake and Jesus play with Big State on the line. Hopefully, they can finish this game and not have it end like the time Jesus threw the ball over the fence when he was younger (a little foreshadowing there). Jesus wins 11-5, and Jake heads back to prison. All ends well when Jesus chooses Big State, and Dakota is seen on a bus apparently headed out west, but it is unknown if the governor is going to follow through with his part of the deal. Jesus and Jake are shown shooting jump-shots to close out the film, each in their respected homes: Jesus at Big State, Jake in state prison ... and then it gets weird. Jake throws his ball over the wall, and it ends up in the gym where Jesus is. What??? Spike Lee, you might be out of your mojo mind!

Maybe some words of advice from 6 prominent coaches of the time (John Chaney - Temple University, Lute Olson - University of Arizona, Nolan Richardson - University of Arkansas, Dean Smith - University of North Carolina, John Thompson - Georgetown University, and Roy Williams - University of Kansas) can help me with my review, just like they helped Jesus in this movie.... Oh wait, they didn’t help him either. They all fed him the same clichéd line:

“This will be the most important decision in your life.”