Thoughts on He Got Game

 

via Gifer/Courtesy Disney

"Two. Two-one. That's somethin' you taught me."
"That's right. I taught you well, son. A lot of things you learned from me. This your ball?"
"What you stallin' for?"
"Everything you got you got from me, boy. Everything you got."
"Let me show you what you taught me."
"Yeah, show me. Show me!"

If the climactic scene between convict Jake Shuttlesworth (Denzel Washington) and his poised for greatness son Jesus (Ray Allen) didn't work, then Spike Lee would have been fucked. He Got Game, written, directed and co-produced by Lee, had been building to the one-on-one basketball game between the estranged duo. Up to then, everyone has wanted a piece of Jesus and what he can accomplish. Is it excessive? Well, yes. In fact, if the climax and resolution hadn't worked so well, then I would not be able to fully recommend Game. Spike deserves credit for acknowledging seemingly every pitfall Jesus could face, but we have to admit that bloat is bloat. Not since Primary Colors has a movie tested my patience and still been praise-worthy.

Perhaps the boldest move made with Game was playing it straight. The elements were in place for a satire. "People don't care about me. They care about themselves," Jesus says. He's not wrong. The better characters in Game have more than one motivation. Like Jake, who wants to once again be the father of Jesus and Mary (Zelda Harris) and has been promised early release from Attica if he gets Jesus to go to the governor's alma mater. Mary makes Jesus uncomfortable when she shares a fantasy about idle rich living. Farther up the scale are Uncle Bubba (Bill Nunn), who's not above emotional blackmail and Lala (Rosario Dawson), who has almost as much baggage with Jesus as Jake does. Shoot, the only one above the fray is Martha (Lonette McKee), and she's dead. It happened by accident, when Martha was caught between Jake and Jesus' fight.

"Have fun at the camp, and remember -- use basketball as a tool."

The only thing I didn't like in Game, and really, it's not as bad as legend has it, is Jake bonding with Dakota the hooker (Milla Jovovich). Dakota doesn't really serve a purpose. We can draw our own conclusions about how much Jake misses intimacy and that he is repentant about Martha. But Milla isn't bad opposite Denzel and her presence does break up any monotony that occurs while we wait for Jesus to find his calling. While we're on the subject, Game and its characters are not above making on the nose comments about Jesus and what he means to them. Hell, he even wears Bible-style clothes on the cover of Sports Illustrated. I dunno. I guess having everyone acknowledge the hoopla ultimately keeps it endearing rather than excruciating.

Similar to The Big Lebowski, Game was not especially warmly received upon its release. Even now, the movie is often remembered for its sprawl rather than its solid core story and the excellent chemistry between Denzel and Ray. Remember, this was Ray's first movie. We can't forget his and Denzel's costar, basketball itself. Game is a movie that could probably only be made by a superfan, and an ambitious one at that. And why not, right? Long before 1998, there were already an ample amount of movies, etc. that rhapsodied over other sports, especially baseball. Why shouldn't it have been basketball's turn? Anyway, despite the excess, I do love Game. It's an experience, which is always a plus. Not only that, but many scenes are quite moving.

"Let me tell you somethin'. You look out for yourself. You look out for your sister. You ain't got to worry about me no more. But you get that hatred out your heart, boy, or you gon' end up just another n****r, like your father. ... It's your ball."

Recommended.

Thoughts:
-- "What's in the bag? Toothbrush, toothpaste ... an afro pick?"

-- Box Office: Grossing nearly $21.6 million on a $25 million budget, this opened at No. 1 and came in at No. 84 for 1998.

-- Awards Watch: Denzel, Zelda and the movie got NAACP Image Award nods, with him losing to Danny Glover in Beloved, her losing to Jurnee Smollett on Cosby and the movie award going to How Stella Got Her Groove Back. Ray was nominated for an MTV Movie Award, losing to James Van Der Beek for Varsity Blues. Spike himself earned a Stinkers nod for Worst Director, losing to Jeremiah Chechik for The Avengers.

-- Critic's Corner, the movie: "A Spike Lee Joint that deserves to be a Spike Lee hit, long overdue," Janet Maslin wrote in 1998. "Spike Lee really blows it," Keith Phipps wrote for the A.V. Club in 2002. Keith felt that no relationships in the movie worked and that Denzel and Ray weren't given enough to create actual characters. "(Spike's) ego got in the way," Bill Simmons declared. Kenneth Turan: "Always watchable and often compelling, but it is also erratic and unwieldy ..." Emanuel Levy, Variety: "Too soft at the center, and arguably the director's most mainstream movie." Levy, by the way, also wondered about the "savage farce" that could have been. Meanwhile, Roger Ebert loved the ending: "(The) final image is simple and very daring, and goes beyond words or plot to summarize the heart of the story."

-- Special attention goes to the severe blows from two Washington Post critics. Stephen Hunter suggested Lee wanted "to make not just the great American father-son basketball movie but also the great Amercian sports recruiting movie, the great American prostitute redemption movie, the great American domestic violence movie and the great American exploitation of color by the Man movie." Michael O'Sullivan: "By not the director has made so many commercials that he's actually gotten too good at selling stuff ... (namely) his own cynical and simplistic view of the world (populated by cartoons, not real characters) ... a ballgame doesn't work as a metaphor -- or worse yet, a religion -- just because Spike Lee believes in it."

-- Critic's Corner, Denzel: "(It's) one of his richest, most surprising turns, in part because it's among his most terrifying," K. Austin Collins wrote in 2018 for Vanity Fair. Maslin: "(He) gives a splendid, carefully measured performance that keeps this freewheeling film from spinning out of control." "His excellent performance ... carries the film," Turan wrote. Hunter felt that Denzel gave the best performance, but was frustrated that we didn't learn enough about Jake beyond his pain and yearning over the estrangement from Jesus. Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: "Washington gives a meticulous, implosive perfromance that, at times, feels overly studied -- indeed, a bit armored."

-- Critic's Corner, Ray: "The lead actor in a movie shouldn't have me thinking the entire time, 'Ray Allen's trying to act ...,'" Simmons sniffed. Turan was impressed with Ray's verisimilitude. Maslin liked him, too, saying he gave "a likeable, unaffected performance that would be fine even if he weren't an NBA star." Ebert: "(Allen is) that rarity, an athlete who can act." Levy: "The real revelation here is newcomer Allen."

-- Memorable Music: The score is 11-8, still favoring non-original songs. Game's original entry is the title song by Public Enemy, which was my second exposure to "For What It's Worth." The first was from The Muppet Show. I'm also giving a point for all of the Copland pieces. That said, it was jarring to hear "Hoe-Down" outside of a "Beef. It's What's for Dinner" commercial.

-- Fanservice Junction: Rosario, Milla and those two blonde girls Jesus has sex with while visiting Tech U. 

-- Hey, It's ...!: Lots of NBA figures, including Shaq, Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan, plus Jim Brown, John Turturro, Ned Beatty, Robin Roberts and Dick Vitale.

-- Hey, It's 1998!: This was spoofed on Mad TV as "He Got Gay."

-- "There are very few players that give you 40 minutes of everything. Michael Jordan'll give you 35. But 40 minutes of everything (Jesus has) because of what he's overcome in his life."

-- Next: Bulworth. On deck: Deep Impact.