Review: White Men Can't Jump

Sports movies aren’t typically my thing unless they have something to drive the movie outside of the game, case in point I love Friday Night Lights because I was interested in the characters more than the football. White Men Can’t Jump means nothing to me as a Basketball Movie but as an odd couple comedy about hustling and racial joking, I found it quite entertaining if nothing wholly special.

On a hot summer day in L.A., young black man Sidney Deane is playing basketball on the courts with his friends, when his rivals lose a man to injury Sidney forces them to take skinny white dude Billy Hoyle, a stranger to their courts, so they can end the game quickly. To everyone’s surprise, Billy not only helps win the game, but beats Sidney in a one-on-one match, revealing himself to be a hustler using his whiteness to throw off black players who assume their natural advantage because of their skin colour.

While at first Sidney is pissed to have been hustled, he sees the opportunity and propositions a team-up with Billy to hustle some big money and split the winnings, something Billy needs due to him and his girlfriend Gloria struggling to pay off a gambling debt. The mismatched pair take to the courts to rip off L.A., Billy to pay off his debts and Sidney to pay for his wife and kid to move out of their shitty apartment, and it all seems to work out but of course a mess of crap gets in the way of the guys making any money, be it ineptitude, overconfidence or their own damn egos holding them back.

If we’re gonna be completely honest the story could be a little tighter since the gaining and losing money does seem to happen once too often and feels like the film is taking a step backwards so it can keep going but to the film’s credit it does work that into the character arcs, in particular Billy and Gloria’s relationship. Outside of that though this is a good set-up, Sidney and Billy make a solid antagonistic partnership with Gloria acting as the voice of reason to keep them both on track, even just eh simple premise of watching the two of them trade verbal blows off the courts was enough to keep me invested in the film.

It’s definitely the main trio that make this film work as well as it does, ideally I would’ve liked Sidney’s wife Rhonda to get a little more screen time to better establish both herself and Sidney but she did fine in her limited role. Sidney himself – played by Wesley Snipes – was a lot of fun, entering the film cocky as hell and with the bite to back up his bark, his defeat at the hands of Billy is a blow but the fact he’s able to see passed the defeat and into a money-making venture shows a man thinking 2 steps ahead. It becomes clear that Sidney is a dishonest man looking for an honest life, his wish to get his wife and kid out of their shithole apartment is a just cause but his hustling paints him a few shades greyer, even at one point hustling Billy to get a bigger score. Snipes is charismatic as hell acting as Billy’s – and by extension the audience’s – guide into the world of L.A. Street Basketball, not just in the sense of how to play but what to do while you’re playing, it’s a good role for Snipes and he’s clearly having a lot of fun being able to shoot some shit, both literally and figuratively.

Woody Harrelson might not be the first name you think when it comes to basketball movies but for a film about a dopey whiteboy motherfucker hustling people because of his looks, it’s solid casting, Harrelson as Billy is arguably the film’s primary character, as much as he shares the screen with Snipes it’s Billy that goes through the film’s best arc. Having gotten into some bad debt with some gamblers, Billy uses the courts to hustle and get back the money, a slow but simple process which is why he teams up with Sidney to help speed the process along. While he’s good at making money, Billy struggles with holding onto it; it’s actually quite an interesting character flaw to have because every time Billy loses the money it’s for an all-or-nothing deal and his overconfidence is what trips him up, exactly the same trick he uses to win on the courts. Much like Snipes, Harrelson is clearly having a lot of fun with the role and the two of them have great chemistry together, trading passes and insults in equal measures – ironically their biggest problem is they’re too like each other to get along – but Harrelson stands out all the more for how sympathetically desperate he makes Billy.

Rounding out the trinity is Gloria played by Rosie Perez, it’s clear from the outset that Rosie is the brains of the operation, initially only superficially with her training up on obscure knowledge for a place on Jeopardy that hasn’t been confirmed yet but as the film goes on and Billy proves to be more and more of a liability, it’s Rosie that works to keep them afloat. Perez is likewise very charismatic in her role but what makes her stand out is how she isn’t tied down to Billy, sure there’s a lot of love and a lot more lust between them but she isn’t afraid to call him out on his shit and even by the end they take a very different direction than I was expecting but it worked in favour of both characters.

The film is directed by Ron Shelton, not someone whose work I’ve seen before but I enjoyed what he has on show here, while I think most of the heavy lifting is done by the character Shelton brings them all together to make it work, the comedy comes from how the three leads of Sidney, Billy and Gloria work together, or rather how they don’t. Sometimes it can be something as simple as Sidney sarcastically checking a basketball hoop so Billy can’t claim foul or it can be something more elaborate like an extended sequence during a tournament where Billy constantly calls out the others players in order to throw them off their games. I’d never say the film was hilarious but the comedy is enough to keep thing light and entertaining.

I can’t say much on the actual basketball scenes themselves – this is street level so don’t go in expecting anything too impressive – I like that Shelton understood the main story was off the courts, be it Billy’s gambling debt, Sidney’s family life or their attempts to fuck each other over, Shelton made sure to focus on everything away from basketball then let the actual game work for themselves. Some might be disappointed there’s no final victory, no last minute point but that’s not what the film is going for, this is about 3 different people meeting at a very strange time of their lives and cheating folk out of their money, it’s not a sports comedy, it’s a comedy with sports and Shelton understands that distinction.

Even with basketball at its centre I enjoyed White Men Can’t Jump, while the story could’ve been tighter overall it gave enough to drive the film and in the end the trio of Sidney, Billy and Gloria is what makes the film so enjoyable, their relationships, both personal and professional, manage to capture a level of grey without falling into a morality trap, making for a friendly if antagonistic partnership. Worth giving a shot if you got the time.

7/10