Love & Game

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.

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.

In Just Wright, Queen Latifah's love life isn't her strongest suit. She's intelligent, responsible, skilled in her craft, kind, and supportive - all the qualities men repeatedly tell her make her a great friend. Her sister, Paula Patton, gets all the dates instead. Queenie's a big basketball fan, but Paula's only interested in becoming one of the player's wives so she can brag and have lots of money. When a basketball player, Common, gets injured, he gets taken care of by Queenie (she's a physical therapist). Do you think there's a love triangle in the works?

Paula Patton is so convincing in her role of the self-centered, foolish pretty sister, you'll want to throw something at the television set. It's hard to believe she's just acting, but let's give her the benefit of the doubt. If you have a sister, cousin, or friend who thinks her looks and charm can get her everything she wants, you'll love to hate her in this movie.

I'm always partial to Queen Latifah, since she's one of my favorites, so from the first minute of screen time I was rooting for her to find true love. I love her energy and confidence, and that in so many roles she's got a great head for business. This is such a cute romantic comedy, it'll have you coming back to it again and again. I've seen it three times already!

I really liked this movie. It was a charming way to spend an afternoon. I would watch it again. I like that Queen was accepted on her own terms. No make over needed or wanted by either party. I also liked the theme of working hard whether as a therapist or the clinic. Inspirational to me.

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".