Disappointment for a huge fan!

Charming and brutal

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Go ahead if you want to and read the over-long, overly loquacious thousand-word reviews if you have the patience and the time to waste -- bottom line in reviewing this movie can be concise as this: Good actors, emotionally well-intended, but all for naught due to the initial very contrived premise that puts the plot in motion, which of course as so contrived undermines the overall credibility of the story.

He Got Game is a very enjoyable film. The cinematography is top drawer and the dialog crisply written. The movie explores the moral conflicts surrounding a prospective college basketball player. As soon as various interests decided that he is worth something to them, they pull all the stops on recruiting him to their school. Ray Allen plays the college prospect, Jesus, and Denzel Washington plays his convict father Jay. Ray and Jake are estranged after Jake accidentally kills his wife and Jesus's mother in a moment of passion. Now Jake must balance a release from prison against doing what is best for his Jay. Milla Jovavich and Rosario Dawson add to the fine cast.Many may shy away because it is a Spike Lee film, but the movie isn't a sermon about race relations. It is about a young man being treated as a commodity by family, friends, and strangers. It is worth your time.

He Got Game is basically a story of redemption for a conflicted family of father and son played over the setting of basketball. The movie alludes to so many possible and actual struggles a man may face but its particularly speaking whether intentionally or subliminally of the African American experience. Though one may not see the plot being focused as it tends to go in several different directions, at times its a perfectly frustrating example of how out of control a life may become if the right choices aren't made.Denzel's portrayal of Jake Shuttlesworth is a prime example of a flawed but strong willed individual who angrily imposes himself onto his son to succeed at where he most likely failed. In the process he pushes his son away and in a sense sends him on a path to be that same angry man he became. Ray Allen as Jesus Shuttlesworth has so many options but no answers as he takes the weight of the world on his shoulders. His character is that of kid presented with choices forcing him to become a man. But without guidance since he essentially raised himself and his sister in the absence of his father and death of his mother, Jesus is vulnerable to all the temptation around him.Spike Lee forces points down your throat unnecessarily with explicit sex scenes which he does way too often in just about all of his films but though uncomfortable, it works in the aspect of this film. Seeing Jesus and Jake grind it out in a game of one on one is a great climax brought to a head after Jesus's several rejections of his father acceptance and Jake's realization of his time running out. The lesson taught is a great lesson learned and in the end redemption is found through the strength of understanding between father and son.

Director Spike Lee loves basketball. You can see him court side at Knicks games. A basketball movie fits right in with his love and this one starring Denzel Washington as a father let out of prison to convince his son to sign for the Governor's alma mater is not a bad movie. Of course Denzel's mission is complicated by the fact that he is in prison for killing his son's mother, and he named him "Jesus." Try to overcome that! But, we do get a good father-son movie in the attempt.Really, anytime we get to see Denzel is a good thing, and this also has Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil) and Rosario Dawson (Sin City, Grindhouse), and birthday girl, Jennifer Esposito. Of course, crash is a better vehicle for seeing Jennifer, but this one was available for a birthday tribute.The only thing I don't like about Lee's movies is, that with few exceptions, he portrays all his female characters (in the current vernacular) as "nappy headed ho's." This one is no exception.