Most of My Heroes Don't Appear On a Stamp

Rating: Null/10 (21 November 2013)

A morality tale by Spike Lee, "He Got Game" stars Denzel Washington as Jake, a convict who attempts to reconnect with his basketball star son. But are Jake's intentions pure or is he, like everyone else in Lee's film, attempting to profit off his son's newfound fame?
"He Got Game" is cartoonish, heavy-handed and awkwardly juggles satire and neorealism. It's also filled with countless powerful sequences, most of which are simple conversations involving Washington. Elsewhere Jake connects with a white prostitute (Milla Jovovich), his relationship with her recalling those who attempt to seduce his own son. Everyone's a sycophant, manoeuvring for a dollar, trading false smiles and falser platitudes. When the black man gets money, the leaches come out.
Like most of Lee's films, "Game" individualises problems. Integrity, temptation, loyalty etc are seen to be problems to be personally negotiated and not symptoms of a wider social failing; do the right thing, Lee believes, and everything will be alright. Broadening the film's themes are the film's signature song, Public Enemy's "He Got Game". "Damn the game if it ain't saying nothing," their lyrics proclaim, before advising Lee's heroes to "pay attention to the game behind the game", in which "the devil makes the rules" and "folk don't own themselves but pay mental rent to presidents". Lee would immortalise Public Enemy in "Do The Right Thing" many years earlier, though again their lyrics ("Fight the Power") were out of sync with Lee's reductive message of individual responsibility.
"Game" stars NBA's Ray Allen as Jake's son, a bit of casting which lends the film's court sessions extra authenticity. As is typical of Lee, the film's women are poorly written, except for a character played by Rosario Dawson. She's your archetypal temptress, but only, Lee makes it clear, because nobody else is looking out for her financial future. Presumably this justifies all the product placement in the film, as well as Lee's infamous side-career, marketing overpriced Nikes to inner-city blacks.
It's Denzel who really elevates things, though. The man with the coolest walk in showbiz, "Game" soars whenever Washtingon is on screen. Unfortunately it's a performance which Lee constantly undermines with unnecessary pyrotechnics. Lee is a man of excess. Denzel is too, but he's cool. Lee wishes he were.
7.9/10 – Veers from powerful to terrible. See "Red Hook Summer", a Spike joint which rectifies most of the problems encountered here. Worth one viewing.