LOS ANGELES, CA — Hollywood once again decides to commit to redoing a cult classic film with the 2023 version of White Men Can’t Jump starring talented actor Sinqua Walls (Power, Necessary Roughness, American Soul), and rising hip hop star Jack Harlow. Many remember the 1992 original that starred Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson, and the beautiful Rosie Perez. In the 2023 version directed by Calmatic, it takes a moment or two for the audience to see the chemistry between Walls and Harlow as the story unfolds.
The two ironically meet at a local basketball gym at Dorsey High School in Los Angeles, as Harlow’s character is dressed like a lost yoga gentrified instructor who recently moved to the area. The original 1992 film was full of Harrelson’s witty and jovial character throughout the film, versus Harlow (portraying Jeremy) who uses witty one-liners that will have you laughing for a good portion of the film. It is an alluring balance to Walls (starring as Kamal) a more focused and serious character. Walls, like Snipes’ character, does thrive on a trash talking nature yet with more of a chip on Walls’ shoulder than Snipes had in the original version.
Kamal is a former high school future division 1 athlete who’s dreams fall short of college and the NBA due a filmed brawl during a high school game his senior year. He now works delivering packages while playing basketball at local gyms with a slight hope of returning to the hardwood in some type of professional manner. His wife Imani (Teyana Taylor) is a loving, supportive wife, an entrepreneur, and mother providing wisdom and balance that Kamal needs to make it. Kamal also lives off of the wisdom of his supportive dad (played by the late Lance Reddick in a his final acting performance), still searching for the meaning of life.
Jeremy is an “in-your-face” joking character yet there is a softer side to his humor but memorable. The former top Gonzaga player who came up shorter than Emmanuel Lewis at a urinal with his NBA dreams due to knee injuries, still has hopes of playing basketball while hustling his holistic concoctions around basketball gyms and clients he trains for a living. Jeremy’s live-in girlfriend Tatiana (Laura Harrier), who is a dance teacher and future choreographer looks for Jeremy to get his life together sooner than later. Though the two are battling their own individual issues in life, they eventually realize they need one another and build a friendship through basketball. Kamal’s friends Speedy (Vince Staples) and Renzo (Myles Bullock) are still skeptical of Jeremy’s skills and questions Kamal’s decision to partner up with him in order to get the money needed to achieve a greater lifestyle.
Calmatic does a great job bringing the real Los Angeles to the screen while allowing Angelinos born and raised in the city an opportunity to recognize their favorite and memorable places in and around Baldwin Village, the Crenshaw District, and Venice Beach. The cinematography was truly incredible and the direction of the film told a story within a story throughout the film.
Kamal and Jeremy experience the ebbs and flows of their budding friendship due to various backgrounds, but the two are able to accomplish their goals individually and collectively in one of the most important basketball tournaments on the court in Leimert Park. Both players also realize they have improvements to do off the court in their respective lives with their significant others. Walls does a great job with his character in Kamal, and surprisingly Harlow holds his own with his portrayal of Jeremy in this film. I would’ve like to have seen more about the female characters in the film and really have Tatiana be developed more like how we saw Perez’s character in the original film. Also Kenya Barris’ overly cooked white-black humor writing get a bit redundant throughout the film as well.
There are also several cameos in the film by DJ Battlecat, DJ Hed (Homegrown Radio), Slink Johnson, and former NBA star Blake Griffin, who serves as an executive producer.
Overall, for this generation’s version of White Men Can’t Jump, this film is definitely 7/10.
White Men Can’t Jump is released by 20th Century Studios, and is rated R. The film will be released on May 19 on HULU and is 101 minutes.
