20 Years Ago, He Got Game Was Released, Your Opinion Now?

[GPBear]

I was just thinking of this movie the other day, didn’t know it was it’s 20th anniversary

Ray Allen is one of my favorite players, it’s interesting he was in a movie considering how quiet of a guy he was.

 

[threattonature]

Not perfect by any means but a straight up classic. Ray was a bit wooden with the acting at times but really did a great job at highlighting how everyone around the kids are using them in some ways and makes it hard for them to know who to trust. The wildness of the college visits. I really do think that's still a completely untapped market showing the life of an athlete and being on a team.

 

[Lucky_Lefty]

you mean when Denzel throws the ball out of the prison yard, and it magically lands in the gym where Ray is practicing?

Basically just means the father telling the son. “The ball is in your court now” but the execution was dumb

 

[Dr. Narcisse]

ai/kobe as jesus from coney.island could of been iconic*

Needed an actual NY’er. Marbury actually from Coney Island.

Before getting into marburys or even ais demeanor (i dont see them being malleable enough to be directed effectively in a film) , it woulda took out one of the more subtly powerful scenes of the movie...when jesus and jake see each other in that apt and jake walks out, jesus lookin down on him on some lil nikka shyt...thats was dope

Marbury and denzel damn near the same height....denzel may be taller than ai...that scene would have lost so much considering those dimensions

Then the end basketball game where jesus physically dominates him and dunks on him and shyt...ai or marbury would jus be running circles around an older tired man...shaking him up n all...it coulda been pulled off, but woulda been clearly less dramatic.

I wonder if shyt like that was considered before hand...spike is a slick and deliberate director

Was my fav film growing up...may still be my fav

Opinion:
Ray Allen is a terrible actor.

Spike Lee said Iverson denied the role


I liked Ray in the movie

I’m pretty sure Spike said he originally wanted Marbury to play the character since it essentially was based a lot on him. But he said Marbury and Iverson both failed the auditions terribly or something like that. And he said Kobe had just had that air ball fest against the Jazz and wanted to work on his game all that summer. Spike is also known for a lot of duck tales too though so

That scene was unbelievable too. The crazy shyt though is that in the script Jesus is supposed to literally score every point and dominate as though Jake isn’t even on the court. But they just gave Ray Allen and Denzel the ball and let them play for real, assuming that’s what would happen (logically). Except Denzel said he wasn’t gonna just allow himself to get embarrassed like that and he was actually scoring those buckets on Ray for real lol.

Not perfect by any means but a straight up classic. Ray was a bit wooden with the acting at times but really did a great job at highlighting how everyone around the kids are using them in some ways and makes it hard for them to know who to trust. The wildness of the college visits. I really do think that's still a completely untapped market showing the life of an athlete and being on a team.

Re-watched it last night. I'd argue that Kobe would have been better in that role than Ray...if it was made a couple years later.

However, the thing that stood out to me and who would have been the best "actor" at that time....it was Rick Fox. He carried the hell out of that recruiting visit scene and you could see he had actual acting experience.

The problem is he looked older/not a huge age gap between him and Denzel and he wouldnt have looked like an elite basketball prospect. Low key forgot how how cold Ray Allen's game was. However, his acting is hit or miss throughout the entire movie. Thats something I knew back then.

Denzel/Rick Fox it probably makes the movie better on a technical level

 

[2Quik4UHoes]

Kobe should’ve took that role when he got the call. Would’ve been funny to see him and Denzel with matching fros.

 

[Dr. Narcisse]

Kobe should’ve took that role when he got the call. Would’ve been funny to see him and Denzel with matching fros.

This is why I said Kobe works if the movie was made a couple years later. I'm pretty sure they filmed that movie during the summer of 97. I dont think he had the fro yet. Also early 2000s/21 year old Kobe would have had the calm to play the role. Just a matter of timing.

 

[UpAndComing]

Re-watched it last night. I'd argue that Kobe would have been better in that role than Ray...if it was made a couple years later.

However, the thing that stood out to me and who would have been the best "actor" at that time....it was Rick Fox. He carried the hell out of that recruiting visit scene and you could see he had actual acting experience.

The problem is he looked older/not a huge age gap between him and Denzel and he wouldnt have looked like an elite basketball prospect. Low key forgot how how cold Ray Allen's game was. However, his acting is hit or miss throughout the entire movie. Thats something I knew back then.

Denzel/Rick Fox it probably makes the movie better on a technical level

Kobe would have been horrible in that role

 

[Erratic415]

I thought it was good.

I remember at the time thinking that the ESPN hype was extreme for Jesus’s character, he was only a high school star, guys like KG and Kobe didn’t get crazy ESPN specials like that. And then a couple years later we get this:

 

[YoungMoneyCashMoneyBoy]

I’m pretty sure Spike said he originally wanted Marbury to play the character since it essentially was based a lot on him. But he said Marbury and Iverson both failed the auditions terribly or something like that. And he said Kobe had just had that air ball fest against the Jazz and wanted to work on his game all that summer. Spike is also known for a lot of duck tales too though so

That scene was unbelievable too. The crazy shyt though is that in the script Jesus is supposed to literally score every point and dominate as though Jake isn’t even on the court. But they just gave Ray Allen and Denzel the ball and let them play for real, assuming that’s what would happen (logically). Except Denzel said he wasn’t gonna just allow himself to get embarrassed like that and he was actually scoring those buckets on Ray for real lol.

Never knew that. Repped

 

[Dr. Narcisse]

I thought it was good.

I remember at the time thinking that the ESPN hype was extreme for Jesus’s character, he was only a high school star, guys like KG and Kobe didn’t get crazy ESPN specials like that. And then a couple years later we get this:

To be fair Felipe Lopez had a lot of hype coming out of HS as well.

 

[tremonthustler1]

Needed an actual NY’er. Marbury actually from Coney Island.

Marbury was used in the movie as the example of someone who made it out of Coney Island.

 

[ThaRealness]

I gotta watch that again.

 

[3rd Koast Kang]

Overrated but entertaining

Ray acting damn near ruins the movie

 

[tremonthustler1]

Objectively speaking, this movie had timing issues that Spike Lee movies tend to have, and honestly the viewer has no reason to pick Big State. All we know about it is that the governor went there. We don’t know how good or bad they were. All we knew was that they were in Jesus’ top 10. Spike never gives the viewer a reason to reconsider turning pro or going to Tech U. The average kid signs the LOI at Tech U after nuttin on them girls (side note: it’s sad that Heather Hunter, Jill Kelly and Chasey Lain were as recognizable to me in that movie as the players and coaches)


Subjectively this is one of my favorite movies of all-time.

 

[Dr. Narcisse]

Objectively speaking, this movie had timing issues that Spike Lee movies tend to have, and honestly the viewer has no reason to pick Big State. All we know about it is that the governor went there. We don’t know how good or bad they were. All we knew was that they were in Jesus’ top 10. Spike never gives the viewer a reason to reconsider turning pro or going to Tech U. The average kid signs the LOI at Tech U after nuttin on them girls (side note: it’s sad that Heather Hunter, Jill Kelly and Chasey Lain were as recognizable to me in that movie as the players and coaches)


Subjectively this is one of my favorite movies of all-time.

I feel like Spike could have cut the prostitute stuff completely out of the movie. The daughter disappears halfway through the film and we never see her again.