WHITE MEN CAN’T JUMP (2023) – Review

So, do you have an appetite for sports films after the entertaining true life-inspired AIR from a few weeks ago (which, BTW, is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video)? To be more specific do you have, as Cheech and Chong most famously proclaimed, a “basketball jones”? Oh, here’s the movie for you! Now unlike the earlier film, this isn’t set in the 1980s, though it has a connection to a previous decade. And it’s not “inspired by true events”. This is more of a rollicking “buddy comedy” and is a remake of a movie from over 30 years ago (the decade being the 1990s). Perhaps it will once and for all either prove this true or false per the still provocative title, WHITE MEN CAN’T JUMP.

Speaking of time, this version starts with a flashback going back only six or seven years. It’s a telling TV interview on a cable sports show profiling high school basketball phenom Kamal (Sinqua Walls), though the interview is dominated by his boasting blustering Papa Benji (Lance Reddick). We then are taken to a big championship game soon after, as Kamal has an off day leading to…an “incident”. Jump forward to now as Kamal works as a delivery driver and shares a small apartment with his mate Imani (Teyana Taylor) and their adorable five-year-old son Drew. She’s tired of styling hair in their home and is saving toward space for her own salon. Towards that, Kamal hangs out with pals Renzo (Myles Bullock) and Speedy (Vince Staples) at the basketball courts of the LA area to “hustle some cash” via “pick-up games”. But this day, an unlikely hoopster hustles them, the goofy “Whole Foods whiteboy”, Jeremy (Jack Harlow). He’s determined to work past the surgery in both (!) knees and try out for the minor leagues. Of course, he keeps that a secret from his live-in girlfriend, Tatiana (Laura Harrier), who wants to be a professional dance director. Jeremy tells her that he’s a personal trainer, and his goal is to move them out of his childhood home (he was literally born there). When he and Kamal clash again at a fitness center, an idea occurs. There’s a big hoops contest in a few weeks with a big cash prize (5 figures), but it’s got an entrance fee of over a grand. They’ll take their “act” on the “road” and accumulate the cash from “ballers” all around the SoCal area. But can these very different personalities mesh together and move past their personal demons to grab the life-changing jackpot?

Though the duo at the heart of the story aren’t major screen veterans they have an easy-going chemistry and a real rapport. Walls as Kamal may have the more compelling backstory, which he conveys just below the surface of his snarling swagger. And in his haunted eyes, Walls conveys the regrets and frustrations of a man whose future should have been “gold”. And some of that is in Harlow’s Jeremy, who keeps plugging along even as his body fights his efforts. Mainly known for his music, Harlow is a terrific screen presence with a great sense of comic timing aided by a wonky, off-kilter line delivery. Taylor is tough and tender as Imani, who also has her dreams but is angered by her role as the “planner” of her family’s destiny. Much as with Harrier, who has a softer side, until she “reads the riot act” to Jeremy when he’s too wrapped up in his goals while dismissing hers. The supporting comedy players are Bullock, who also has a quick quip ready while constantly eating, and Staples as the picked-upon (for his romantic choices) Speedy. Ah, but the real gem here is one of the last big screen performances by the much-missed Lance Reddick who turns Kamal’s blowhard daddy into a strong guiding force and later a tragic inspiration for his son. Few actors could give us such a wide character arc as this gifted man.

In the director’s chair is music video ver Calmatic in her second feature film after recently rebooting another comedy classic from the 90s, HOUSE PARTY. He brings lots of flash and rapid energy to the game sequences, while never ignoring the big dramatic beats in the script from Kenya Barris, Doug Hall, and the original’s scribe, Ron Shelton. The competitions are intense, and so are the passions between the two men and their partners. Some would zero in on the goofball antics of Jeremy and his “fish out of water” persona, but we see how the friendship with Kamal is healing for both of them, especially as Kamal learns to quiet his failure-fueled nightmares. Sure, we didn’t need a “redo” of the Snipes/Harrelson crowd-pleaser, but this “take” has some new things to say and its own retort to that put-down WHITE MEN CAN”T JUMP, because with the right pal, you can soar.

3 out of 4

WHITE MEN CAN’T JUMP streams exclusively on Hulu beginning on Friday, May 19, 2023