Movie Monday: He Got Game//Love & Basketball

Basketball movies tend to make some of the BEST movies so, I'm all over He Got Game. Even though this movie came out in '98, I never saw it in it's entirety until a few years ago. The film featured Denzel Washington & NBA star Ray Allen [current Boston Celtic & one of the best shooters in the game], who at the time played for the Milwaukee Bucks.

In short: The movie is about a son and his estranged father, who is incarcerated for accidently killing his wife. His son, Jesus [Ray Allen], grows to be a great basketball player, thanks to his father [Denzel] but, has hard feelings towards him for what he did in the past. The only way for his father to get out early is if he can get his son to sign with a local college and play ball there. [I won't tell the rest.] I also refuse to post many clips because Ray Allen is not the best actor in the world & anybody who watched this movie could vouch for that. Instead, here's the trailer. [It's crazy how some people refer to him as Jesus to this day.]

[It's pretty cool how they were able to get a lot of actual sports broadcasters and athletes for cameo roles.]

[Denzel & Ray "Jesus Shuttlesworth" on the court.]

[Ray & Rosario Dawson, who played his girlfriend in the film. [FYI: They got it in on this film!]]

Love & Basketball came out in 2000 & became everybody's favorite movie. It featured Sanaa Lathan, which to me was her break out role. Also, it was in this film that the ladies began to really notice Omar Epps (Besides, Higher Learning). The story line is so simple: Two high school sweet hearts that steer away from each other [in college] but, as they grow older they realize they truly love each other.

I remember I used to know every single line in this movie. My favorite part was when Que & Monica were riding home & she read that note from "Shawnee Easton w/ the big---" [you know the rest, if you saw it.]

Notable Quotables [From memory]:

"Who you going to the prom with, Spalding?" -Que

"If my momz found out I was kissing a honey like you, she'd beat the black off me." - Que

"She's not saying, 'I think you're a nice guy--, she's saying 'I want a bone!" - Monica

"Double or nothing." - Monica [2 this day, I still don't have a clue of what that means.]

Remember this song from the movie? [Roger & Zapp - "I Wanna Be Your Man"]

[I loved their relationship. Man, just this song brings back soo many memories. You can't front like you didn't want that kind of relationship. Minus, the [few] disputes they had of course.]



(Movie Poster 1: Tinypic.com)
(Pic 1 & 2: Imagesjournal.com)
(Movie Poster 2: Socialtext.net)
(Pic 3: Movies.yahoo.com)