contrived but powerful and mostly well crafted religious (yes, religious) fable

Rating: 8/10 (30 August 2008)

It's not only that He Got Game's young main character is named Jesus- though that is a very obvious point writer/director Spike Lee puts out there just to nail it (no pun intended) across- but just the entire scope of the picture, individual scenes, that paint this as a kind of modern religious fable. God isn't exactly present throughout the picture (surely the sex scenes and 'bad' language don't make it very holy for many audiences), but Lee's tale, however contrived to fit around the premise of a convict (Denzel Washington) being released for a week to try and lock-down his estranged son into a college the governor wants, strikes a chord almost in spite of its limitations. It's about forgiveness on a base level, about resisting temptations on all fronts, about reconciliation, and about not becoming holier than thou. In a strange way having the character named Jesus deflects the whole point: Jake, Jesus's father, named him for a *former* NBA player nicknamed Jesus, a sweet irony unto itself.
What's most surprising for me is that within the set boundaries of the contrivances, both in the grand piece of the premise and in little occurrences like Jake being situated right next door to a beat up prostitute, Spike Lee has created a work of fiery passion and care and detail. It's a good script first and foremost as just a morality tale played out as realistically as imaginable (or as realistically in a Joint of his) and then elevated through his steadfast direction and the performances. No accident then that basketball is both the main focus of the trials and tribulations of the characters of Jake and Jesus in the story AND Spike Lee's main joy aside from film-making. It goes without saying there are still pieces of social commentary throughout, not least of which from a character named 'Big Time' who rolls around Coney Island pontificating about "life on the streets" or more obviously by the traps of fame and fortune in pro-basketball in colleges. It's how Lee works in the real personal issues, of the more intimate scenes (and not the ones you think are intimate, not sex scenes save for a brief one between Jovovich and Washington), that makes it work.
So, amid the high-flying camera shots and subliminal editing and specific usage of colors and filters as metaphors and the slow-motion shots of the basketball flying through the air as if out in space and lost in time, with taking aside Lee's firm strengths here as a filmmaker, the acting shines out better than expected. In his one real performance (he's appeared in one other film that may or may not have been smaller), Ray Allen plays Jesus without pretension and without ever sounding much of a false note. It could come off as weak to some as he occasionally tries to rise up to the challenge of getting to that level of his fellow actors emotionally. Some may say that, which is fine. But with the scenes he had with the likes of Denzel Washington he held his own wonderfully, with his older quasi-counterpart delivering another great turn in a Lee picture. While it also goes without saying the two of them are stuck in a manipulative "uplifting" ending with the ball flying over one wall into the court, they're actors made for this kind of story and characters- they also play a mean game of ball to boot in a (pleasantly) uncharacteristic one-on-one climax game.
He Got Game has its clichés, its sentimental bits, and its characters brought over from other sports-related dramas. It's also wiser than other crude Hollywood product, it's got sharper and nearly quintessential Spike Lee dialog, and it even features a perfect semblance of rousing score from Aaron Copeland and very cool songs from Public Enemy. And if it delivers a message that isn't too hackneyed under the circumstances, that's fine too, and with everything against it via its premise Lee's made one of his better pictures- good even if you're not big into the sport. 8.5/10