White Men Can’t Jump Review: As the name suggests and, if you are a basketball fan, you already know that this film is a remake. Charles Kidd II aka Calmatic is the director of this Hulu film with a screenplay from Kenya Barris, and Doug Hall that is based on a story of the same name by Ron Shelton, Kenya Barris and Doug Hall which is the 1992 movie.
Kenya Barris and Paul Hall serve as the producers for this film under the production companies- 20th Century Studios and Khalabo Ink Society. The film’s cinematography is by Tommy Maddox-Upshaw with music from Marcelo Zarvos.
The cast of White Men Can’t Jump features Sinqua Walls as Kamal Allen, Jack Harlow as Jeremy, Teyana Taylor as Imani, Laura Harrier as Tatiana, Vince Staples as Speedy, Myles Bullock as Renzo and Lance Reddick as Benji Allen. Additionally, Tamera Kissen, Zak Steiner and Andrew Schulz are also a part of the film’s cast. It serves as Harlow and Walls’ acting debut as they are going to lead the film.
– Hulu’s White Men Can’t Jump Review Does Not Contain Any Spoilers –
White Men Can’t Jump Review: Can’t They Still?
This might just be the month of basketball. With Ben Affleck’s Air sweeping everyone off their feet and The Kardashians Season 3 smelling like we could get some tea on Kendall and Devin Brooker’s romance, basketball is all there is and, all there will be. So, how do you fail a classic game like this? Well, you remake the classic White Men Can’t Jump, which is the last film of that era that needs to be remade.
White Men Can’t Jump starts with a white guy named Jeremy walking into a basketball court dominated by black men. He meets Allen there whose notion is the same as it used to be back in the 90s about white men- they can’t jump aka they can’t hoop or play ball. In layman’s terms, Allen assumes that Jeremy is not a good basketball player just because he is white. But, Jeremy is hell-bent on proving this guy wrong and, he does so, many times.
Yet Allen continues to find new ways to prove himself right, which are, obviously, unsuccessful. However, this frenemy boat takes a life-changing turn when Allen and Jeremy join hands for a basketball tournament that promises them money, fame and a journey that is truly going to change them as individuals along with making a significant impact on their lives.
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White Men Can’t Jump has its intention in the right place. It wants to be another remake in the world of remakes and, we understand the strong desire to be mainstream when indie cinema gets either pushed at the back or forgotten because not enough people have seen them to talk about them. Nonetheless, there is a thick line between being a good remake and a bad one. This Hulu release, unfortunately, belongs to the wrong side of that very thick line.
The moment you hand over a Woody Harrelson iconic character to a rookie like Jack Harlow, there is no going back. But, you can surely save yourself from being the worst, right? Well, White Men Can’t Jump proves us wrong at every hopeful angle we look at the film with overdone, silly comedy; jokes that should have died in the 90s or never should have been alive to be with. There is no chemistry or relationship that moves you between the two leads and every blink just takes you down another disappointing lane.
White Men Can’t Jump: Final Thoughts
So, is White Men Can’t Jump worth the watch? Clearly not! It is archaic and racist with its script, it falls short of any good acting performances and, really tries to up the ‘game’ but, there is none to begin with. This remake is a classic failure that you should steer clear of. Unless you want to put yourself through some unrecoverable pain.
You can watch White Men Can’t Jump now streaming on Hulu.
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