"White Men Can't Jump" is one of the better sports films from writer-director and former baseball player Ron Shelton's inconsistent oeuvre. I mean, "Bull Durham" (1988) and "Cobb" (1994), but also "Blue Chips" (1994), "Tin Cup" (1996) and "Play It to the Bone" (1999). This street-ball one is amusing, though, especially the trash talking and hot-dogging on the court, and Woody Harrelson, Wesley Snipes and Rosie Perez are all at the top of their games.
The flashy play makes sense, though. There's really only one play for a two-on-two match involving smaller players, like Harrelson and Snipes: picks with the option to roll or pop. They face similar dilemmas off the court. Otherwise, there's mostly futile give-'n-goes, a lot of putting the ball between legs and behind backs, spinning it of the backboard for layups and, of course, the jocular insults. So, it's impressive alone that the basketball scenes aren't an utter bore. Decent scoring helps, too, but I think there's something there in "The Hustler" connection. The players are always playing the angles, gambling riskily, and the interpersonal stakes are constantly in flux. The added dynamic from the team sport is the prospect of a buddy picture, so maybe it's more "The Color of Money" (1986) in that respect, to continue the pool-hall comparison with the sequel to "The Hustler," or to move to the card room of another "Hustler" knockoff, "Rounders" (1998). There's also the added racial dynamics at play, on the eve of the Bird-Magic era in the NBA, and, graciously, this is kept at a personal level without laboring any wider social message.
I also find it amusing that even though they account for Harrelson's inability to dunk--it's in the title--the film still frames the narrative as possibly a dream, as if that he can play at all might be unbelievable. Note, that is, that he goes to sleep on the court in the opening scene. This is further framed by music, and there's much made within the possible-dream narrative of him hearing the music. Personally, I suspect the entire movie a dream given that its Venice Beach looks rather pleasant and the buskers charming. My experiential prejudices aside, though, movies, after all, are like a dream. Probably the main shortcoming of "White Men Can't Jump" to my mind is that it doesn't do much with this prospect, or any, although I'm not opposed to the ambiguity, or the simplicity necessarily. The arc of Perez's character of her dream of appearing on TV's "Jeopardy!" fits well enough into this aspect, but I'm not sure that Harrelson's protagonist fits as well--dreaming of showboating to locales over a few thousand dollars and struggling to keep his girlfriend and not be killed by game fixers to whom he owes money. Both performative and a sort of fame, I suppose, and the hustling, or con, which by its nature is to be revealed when it turns out he can play, adds another reflexive dimension, but still a small dream.
The flashy play makes sense, though. There's really only one play for a two-on-two match involving smaller players, like Harrelson and Snipes: picks with the option to roll or pop. They face similar dilemmas off the court. Otherwise, there's mostly futile give-'n-goes, a lot of putting the ball between legs and behind backs, spinning it of the backboard for layups and, of course, the jocular insults. So, it's impressive alone that the basketball scenes aren't an utter bore. Decent scoring helps, too, but I think there's something there in "The Hustler" connection. The players are always playing the angles, gambling riskily, and the interpersonal stakes are constantly in flux. The added dynamic from the team sport is the prospect of a buddy picture, so maybe it's more "The Color of Money" (1986) in that respect, to continue the pool-hall comparison with the sequel to "The Hustler," or to move to the card room of another "Hustler" knockoff, "Rounders" (1998). There's also the added racial dynamics at play, on the eve of the Bird-Magic era in the NBA, and, graciously, this is kept at a personal level without laboring any wider social message.
I also find it amusing that even though they account for Harrelson's inability to dunk--it's in the title--the film still frames the narrative as possibly a dream, as if that he can play at all might be unbelievable. Note, that is, that he goes to sleep on the court in the opening scene. This is further framed by music, and there's much made within the possible-dream narrative of him hearing the music. Personally, I suspect the entire movie a dream given that its Venice Beach looks rather pleasant and the buskers charming. My experiential prejudices aside, though, movies, after all, are like a dream. Probably the main shortcoming of "White Men Can't Jump" to my mind is that it doesn't do much with this prospect, or any, although I'm not opposed to the ambiguity, or the simplicity necessarily. The arc of Perez's character of her dream of appearing on TV's "Jeopardy!" fits well enough into this aspect, but I'm not sure that Harrelson's protagonist fits as well--dreaming of showboating to locales over a few thousand dollars and struggling to keep his girlfriend and not be killed by game fixers to whom he owes money. Both performative and a sort of fame, I suppose, and the hustling, or con, which by its nature is to be revealed when it turns out he can play, adds another reflexive dimension, but still a small dream.