Love & Basketball

Follows the relationship of Monica and Q from elementary school, through high school, college, and life afterwards as they grow to maturity on the court and off. Sanaa Lathan is great as Monica, the girl who wants nothing more than to be the first woman to play in the NBA yet slowly begins to realize there is something greater missing from her life. Omar Epps does his usual fine performance as Q, a boy striving to be better than his NBA star father who learns that a man doesn't necessarily have to be a star. The basketball scenes are well shot and pretty realistic in the aspect of how male and female teams are viewed by the fans. Overall a very enjoyable movie.

It was fantastic film, full of love and emotions and believe in the sport's spirit.

First off, let me say that I am a huge fan of almost every sport known to mankind. Now perhaps because of this, you'd think I'd enjoy movies easier whose central theme revolves around a sport. Contrary to that notion though, I am often a hard rater of sports movies because I expect so much from them.

I really enjoyed this movie though. I thought the acting by both Lathan and Epps was outstanding. I found it to be extremely realistic, with the exception of seeing Epps in a Laker uniform, but other than that, it was real. At one point during the film, I really started to wonder if this film was based on a true story or something, how cool would that have been. Nonetheless, the fictional story is captivating.

Yes I am a guy and I love sports, but I do like watching the occassional love story. I liked Pearl Harbor and Titantic which revolved around love stories, and I liked this love story too. There is more to it though, than just two people who fall for each other who happen to play basketball.

There is the relationship not only between Quincy and Monica, but the relationships they had with their father and mother respectively. There is also the relationship they have with the world they live in, trying to find out what they really want in life. It really makes you think about how sometimes the very thing you are looking for is actually standing right there in front of you and you don't realize it.

In the end, I loved Love and Basketball, and I give it a 10.

I loved that Monica was fierce about her love of basketball, had a quick temper on the court, and knew exactly what she wanted. I kept waiting for her to punch out those idiot female high school classmates of hers who kept picking on her because she was a tomboy. There was a nice contrast between Monica's independence and the traditional homemaker route that her mother took. The subplot about the troubled marriage of Quincy's parents was also well done. I have seen other basketball movies ("Above The Rim" and "He Got Game" comes to mind), but this is one of the better ones, esp. since it tells the story from the viewpoint of the female athlete, and an African-American one, at that. I wholeheartedly recommend this. It's free of the fluff that permeates other romantic dramas.

Love and Basketball: Monica and Quincy have lived beside one another since they were kids, and they only care about two things in life - basketball and each other.

I am definitely more of a movie fan than a basketball fan, thus I went in expecting a jock flick with a token relationship thrown in to justify the title. I could not have been more wrong. Unlike "He Got Game" (another very good film), which dwells solely on the negative aspects of the sport - hustlers, hookers, drugs and death, L&B concentrates on the positive things in life and basketball serves as the background rather than the focus. The story is very well written and works on several levels - it refuses to be pinned down as simply a romance or drama, choosing instead a careful blending of different elements. My only complaint - minor at that - would have to be the ending (and no I'm not going to tell you).

First, how could I find fault with a film that actually does a great casting job with Tyra Banks? She has a small cameo role- she plays a beautiful stewardess, small stretch - with some great lines. Omar Epps brings his trademark cockiness to the role, and although it took me awhile to buy him as a basketball player -he's not exactly Goliath -he grows on you. More importantly, he exhibits and a depth and range that he's never shown before. Sanaa Lathan however, goes one step further, and demonstrates an intensity both on and off the court that puts her in a league all her own. Her performance can be summed up as superb.

L&B is real, engaging, and enjoyable.

Don't miss it.