Jugada Perfecta

I saw the story that was being told and at first I thought I'd enjoy it but I walked out of the theater with a little more emptiness than when I walked in. It felt like there was just a lot of stuff missing from the movie but it was thanks to Queen Latifah's performance that made it worth the watch.

The story is about Leslie Wright (Queen Latifah) a physical therapist who goes to a Nets game and ends up meeting her favorite basketball player Scott McKnight (Common). After she gets him hooked up with her no less than shallow friend Morgan Alexander (Paula Patton) she thinks he changed her for the better. But after he gets injured she reveals shes just the same shallow person she always was and decides to leave him. So now with the help of Leslie, Scott is having to find the strength to go on to save his career and maybe find love in process. When Morgan comes back asking for forgiveness Scott has to make a choice between the beautiful girl or the girl whose beauty shows on the outside and inside.

While the story was good and there were a few funny moments I'm afraid it really didn't do anything for me. The performance by Queen Latifah saved the movie for me while it wouldn't be my first choice its a good movie to watch just to see Queen Latifah do what she does best. But there were performances that really didn't get to me like Queen Latifah did. Common for about half way through the film was not putting on a very good show. Most of the time he would make himself look pretty naive. Like when Morgan asks for forgiveness it just looked like he didn't learn a single thing. While I have to give the character praise for being a man who still has faith in mankind even after what he goes through. I think while it was annoying to see someone be so gullible and fall for acts like those it really helped the rest of the movie by giving the character something to change about himself and add to the drama of the film. There were moments of comedy but nothing truly funny to make me laugh out loud. And I think it would've been good to see more of the problems in the relationship between Leslie and her mother something to help add to the drama of the film.

In the end the film was enjoyable maybe if it was someone else besides Queen Latifah then the movie would've been ruined for me. Every time she went off screen I wouldn't shut my eyes because I knew she'd be back in just a minute. A movie mostly meant for people who just want to see Queen Latifah at one of her best moments.

I love a nice rom com on a Sunday, non brainer movie for a lazy afternoon. I also love basketball and Q. L and Common but gawddam this movie is like all the cliches came alive for an hour and something. A little too cringey for a rom com. Towards the finale I was watching through my palms like I was watching a bunch of people going (against advise) in a dark forest preparing for some chop chop (in a horror movie)

Overall is not that bad but prepare for rolling ur eyes while going "of course that happened".

Basketball and romantic comedy is a weird mix, but I happen to like both, so "Just Wright" worked for me. I'm concerned the producers probably thought that they were going to get the male sports market AND the female romance market, but they are very wrong on that. Too much corny romance for most male viewers and too many basketball references for most female viewers. This can probably only be enjoyed by romantic comedy fans who also like the sport of basketball.

The romantic comedy angle was very formulaic and obtuse. The entire story was laid out from the very beginning, and even earlier than that - it was all in the trailer. There was little depth to the characters and no depth to the situations. No laughs, no tears, but a few smiles.

If you won't get too pained by how obvious the story is, there are some positives. I enjoyed Queen Latifah and, surprisingly, the rapper Common was very enjoyable too. They both came across as likable people whom I wanted to succeed. The slim vs. fat conflicts were kept to a minimum because they aren't their weight, they are people. And, again surprisingly, there was even attempted thought put into the psychology of sports injuries. Although there is almost nothing new in "Just Wright", there is enough to keep fans watching.

Leslie Wright (Queen Latifah) is a straight arrow physical therapist. The Jersey girl drives a crappy car and is always in the friendzone. She lives with her manipulative godsister Morgan (Paula Patton) who is working on becoming an NBA wife. Leslie is an avid New Jersey Nets fan. She befriends Nets star Scott McKnight (Common) and he invites her to his birthday party. She brings Morgan along and Scott falls for Morgan. They plan to get married. Scott gets a possible career ending injury and Morgan abandons him. Leslie helps him recover and that's when Morgan comes back into the picture.

In a cliché rom-com, Leslie would be played by a cute girl turned ugly by a pair of glasses. The reason this is better is that Queen Latifah is so much more. She's no shrinking violet and has personality to boot. Is the story predictable? Absolutely. That's not a real sin in my opinion for a rom-com. This genre needs to follow a certain formula. I think people are so used to the hidden beauty Leslie character to be an actual beauty queen. Queen Latifah throws a lot of people off in this role. This works because of her and Common.

Both Leslie Wright and cousin Morgan Alexander are big Nets fans; however while Leslie is a fan of the team, Morgan is more interested in landing herself a husband and becoming a NBA-wife. When Leslie chances upon a meeting at a gas station with loyal Nets point guard Scott McKnight, she gets an invite to his birthday party and of course Morgan springs into action. Morgan has the looks to capture her man but Leslie appears to have more in common with him. When Scott gets injured, Leslie is employed as live-in physiotherapist supporting his attempts to save his NBA career.

I didn't expect Just Wright to be a great film but I was happy to meet it on its own genre ground and play by its rules. The reason for this was my ongoing interest in Common's acting career; this is perhaps founded in bitterness since he has only done one album since he started focusing on the acting (and it was rubbish) – so I'm keen to see the projects that make the loss (IMO) of such a great artist worthwhile. Since he was the leading man here I thought perhaps this would be the one. The problems with it start immediately as the plot is overly messy, getting a lot of establishment done very quickly – meeting Scott, proposing to Morgan, getting injured, getting Leslie into the job; all work done just to get to the "once they spend time together they find one another" part of the film that we all know is coming. This rather serious and rapid stuff gives the first half of the film an overly earnest air that it doesn't warrant, can't carry and never escapes.

The second half of the film see the film become about the professional couple of Leslie and Scott and this focuses on them being together and finding a chemistry. It is obvious and a bit cheesy but it is what the whole film should have been like (and the film be only 90 minutes long as well). However this is not to say that this part is particularly good either – the main problem is that the material is not particularly inspired, nor is it particularly charming. It is this second quality that is missing most because this sort of film needs charm to make the formula work. Sadly the material doesn't produce it and the chemistry between the two leads is not all it should be.

This is not down to Latifah though, because she works her sparkle for every last drop – she literally gives 100% in every scene and it does show. Common, on the other hand, misjudges his material – partly because he has to deal with more of the "earnest plotting" in the first half. He carries his character too serious and too earnestly to get the mood right. He works "OK" with Latifah but the chemistry just doesn't work as well as it should and it is partly his fault. Patton looks good despite having a terrible character who is all about being a plot device in the weaker first half. Meanwhile the cast is packed with faces from black entertainment (Rashad, Grier) and lots of NBA players showing up – presumably to make the film more marketable thanks to their presence.

Just Wright does start to get a bit better in the second half when the messy and serious plot setting is done and Latifah's sheer work-rate starts to win the viewer over, but she cannot do it alone and indeed she doesn't. It is not an awful film but it should have been more formula focused, stayed closely to the genre and have delivered the material to match the effort put in by Latifah. Sadly this is another film that makes Universal Mind Control feel like an even worse album than it was.