Plot: 7 (Simple, but full)
Diction: 7 (Nothing special)
Character: 8 (Deep and broad)
Extension: 6 (Predictable and unrewarding)
Spectacle: 7 (Consistently interesting)
Overall: 7.0
I left this movie dazed, but positive that I enjoyed it. The simplicity of the plot and the breadth of the characters are probably the reason for this. One of the things I like best about Spike Lee joints is that he assumes that the audience will be able to infer some of the factual elements of the characters from the hints he offers. Exposition doesn't come out and hit you over the head, but rather, insinuates itself into the expanse of the movie. This makes the experience quite a bit more pleasurable because it is subtle enough not to be distracting.
For basketball fans, there's not a lot of basketball, but at the same time, there is an intimate look at the kinds of pressures that can affect star-quality players. Jesus Shuttlesworth's concerns seem very real. He's one of the few people who doesn't come under the avaricious spell that seems to come over his relatives at the prospect of these high-dollar college deal. It's also an important antidote for the starry-eyed children who look at a life in sports as a carefree life of money and women, etc. I think it's an important part of this movie's extension that one gets the sick-feeling that some of these sugar-deals offered to Jesus were too good to be true.
Of course, there is the traditional modicum of african-american culture, including put-downs I always seem to enjoy for quite a long time after the movie, but like any Spike Lee joint, this movie is only designed to entertain you long enough to get the message across.
I left this movie dazed, but positive that I enjoyed it. The simplicity of the plot and the breadth of the characters are probably the reason for this. One of the things I like best about Spike Lee joints is that he assumes that the audience will be able to infer some of the factual elements of the characters from the hints he offers. Exposition doesn't come out and hit you over the head, but rather, insinuates itself into the expanse of the movie. This makes the experience quite a bit more pleasurable because it is subtle enough not to be distracting.
For basketball fans, there's not a lot of basketball, but at the same time, there is an intimate look at the kinds of pressures that can affect star-quality players. Jesus Shuttlesworth's concerns seem very real. He's one of the few people who doesn't come under the avaricious spell that seems to come over his relatives at the prospect of these high-dollar college deal. It's also an important antidote for the starry-eyed children who look at a life in sports as a carefree life of money and women, etc. I think it's an important part of this movie's extension that one gets the sick-feeling that some of these sugar-deals offered to Jesus were too good to be true.
Of course, there is the traditional modicum of african-american culture, including put-downs I always seem to enjoy for quite a long time after the movie, but like any Spike Lee joint, this movie is only designed to entertain you long enough to get the message across.