sycasey 2.0 2301 Posted February 18, 2021 Amy & Paul alley-oop 2000’s Gina Prince-Bythewood athletic romance Love And Basketball! They discover the impact this film made on WNBA players like Candace Parker, learn why Sanaa Lathan had to prove she was up for the lead role, and ask if a childhood argument foreshadows the central couple’s turbulent relationship. Plus: Why did the love scene almost get cut by the MPAA? This is the sixth episode in our Couple Goals series; next week’s film is Brokeback Mountain! Learn more about the show at unspooledpod.com, follow us on Twitter @unspooled and Instagram @unspooledpod, and don’t forget to rate, review & subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and Spotify. You can also listen to our Stitcher Premium game show Screen Test right now at https://www.stitcher.com/show/unspooled-screen-test, and apply to be a contestant at unspooledpod@gmail.com! Photo credit: Kim Troxall Share this post Link to post
sycasey 2.0 2301 Posted February 18, 2021 I didn't vote for it to go on the rocket ship, but I had never seen this movie before the podcast covered it and enjoyed it quite a bit. Sanaa Lathan is terrific (maybe she deserved a Best Actress nomination?), and I liked how a lot of the basketball scenes were done, particularly hers. There are several basketball movies that I like very much as movies (Hoosiers, White Men Can't Jump) in which the actual basketball action is a little bit wonky. In this one the only issue I can detect is that sometimes it's a little obvious that Omar Epps is too short to be a real NBA player, but otherwise it's very good. I hadn't been into the other Prince-Bythewood movies I'd seen, but with this one I see why people like her stuff. She has a good sense for character detail and the musical choices are really good. Why not vote for it? I think the visual style is a little bit bland, and the ending feels a little bit wonky. I like the scene at the WNBA game at the very end, but they also just kind of slide past the fact that Q was supposed to marry someone else and changed his mind at the last minute. I'm not sure the movie really deals with that in a meaningful way. 1 Share this post Link to post
FictionIsntReal 79 Posted February 19, 2021 I was surprised how much better this movie was than I expected, and how mature it was for a directorial debut. But I voted against When Harry Met Sally for not being able to outdo its inspiration in Annie Hall and the same logic applies to this vs WHMS. My understanding (via Blank Check's podcast on this) is that Tyra Banks herself insisted on a different sounding name. Share this post Link to post
