White Man Can't Jump
Rated R
Comedy/Drama
20th Century Pictures
This is an "updated" remixed version of the 1992 version of White Man Can't Jump staring Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrilson and Rosie Perez. Like that version of the film, this film has two down on their luck basketball players from two different worlds that team up together.
The new film stars rapper Jack Harlow as Jeremy and actor Sinqua Walls as Kamal. Kama was a big basketball star in high school and was supposed to go all the way to the NBA, but he sabotaged his career. Jeremy was a great college player who unfortunately had injuries that changed his future. They are both trying to get back in the game and end up needing each other to get there.
You don't need to have seen the original movie to understand what is going on here. I actually would say, don't see it. This movie was meant to be FRESH out the box. But if you want to get into the differences and analyze the two, then by all means go watch the original and then watch this and then join me on my YouTube channel for the breakdown.
The movie is fine, the acting is actually good. The story gets too caught in the "let's make this story relevant to today" narrative to really go anywhere great. All the tropes for both characters are there and the movie makes fun of the tropes, prejudices of its characters in relation to society, and then they do it again and again and again. Not in a whitey or smart way. It gets distracting. It's too clean and shiny. I want the grit of the original movie. I want a movie like this to feel like your favorite shirt that you looked for at the bottom of the clothes file in your room, smelled it, put it on and ran your day. This is a shirt fresh out of the packaging with the creases still in it. Not lived in enough to be fully believable.
Streaming now on Hulu.
Director: Calmatic
Producer: Kenya Barris, Paul Hall
Writer: Kenya Barris, Doug Hall
Release Date (Streaming): May 19, 2023
Runtime: 1h 41m
Distributor: Hulu
Production Co: Khalabo Ink Society, Mortal Media, 20th Century Studios
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital
Grade: B-