He Got Game (1998)

Jake Shuttlesworth (Denzel Washington), an inmate at Attica, is secretly let out of prison temporarily so he can try to convince his son to attend Big State University, the governor's alma mater. Time is running out for Jesus Shuttlesworth (Ray Allen), Jake's son and the top high school basketball player in the country. Jesus has yet to pick a university and he less than a week to decide.

The relationship between father and son is complicated by their shared past. Before he went to prison, Jake pushed and bullied Jesus to improve his basketball game. He is in prison for accidentally killing his wife when she tried to stop him from harassing their son.

Jake is promised by the warden that the governor will grant him early parole if he can get his son to attend Big State U. Jake does what he can to talk his son in to attending Big State but he is just one of many people whispering in Jesus' ear. Many people (family, friends, strangers) are trying to push him one way or another: his girlfriend, his uncle, his coach, an agent who wants to represent him.

There are two story lines running concurrently through this movie. The first consists of the attempts by Jake to repair his relationship with his Jesus. The second is how Jesus deals with the pressure of being the number one high school basketball player. When I first saw the movie, when it was originally released in 1998, I was much more focused on the second story line, possibly because I was very much interested in men's college basketball at that time. My interests in watching college and professional sports have diminished greatly since then and this time around it was the first story line that loomed larger for me.

There are a number of familiar faces in the movie, some are regulars in Spike Lee movies, some are not. Rosario Dawson, in one of her first roles on the big screen, plays Lala, Jesus' girlfriend who introduces him to an agent. Bill Nunn plays his uncle who is very interested in getting paid for helping to look after Jesus and his sister since their mother died and their father went to prison. There are a few professional ballplayers (John Wallace, Rick Fox) mixed in the cast and several college basketball coaches playing themselves. Milla Jovovich plays a prostitute who lives in the apartment next to the one where Jake is staying. John Turturro plays the head coach at Big State U.

I had completely forgotten about the score for the movie which mostly consists of music of Aaron Copeland. The juxtaposition that music with this story were truly inspired. Spike Lee, in all fairness, does a great job with the music selections he makes for his movies.

I am glad I chose to watch this movie again. It probably isn't everyone's cup of tea but it also isn't run of the mill.