Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Love & Basketball Blu-ray Movie Review

She Got Game

Reviewed by Michael Reuben February 8, 2015

The debut feature of writer/director Gina Prince-Bythewood, Love & Basketball (hereafter, "L&B"), did respectable box office when it was released in April 2000, but it might have done even better if the film hadn't automatically been pigeon-holed as a "black" film. L&B is a love story about two people who happen to be African-Americans, but their hopes, dreams and disappointments are the kind that any audience member can recognize and understand.

Prince-Bythewood writes characters who are specific to their place and time but don't feel "programmed" by social circumstances. As the two leads in L&B age from eleven to their mid-twenties, the most powerful forces in their lives are the familiar bonds of family and the tug-of-war that often ensues between parents and children as the children mature. Prince-Bythewood's own background is multi-cultural. The product of mixed parentage, she was raised by adoptive parents who were white and El Salvadoran, and she grew up in a white middle-class neighborhood with four older siblings. She tells stories from the perspective of someone for whom race is less of an issue than relationships.

As the film's title suggests, the two lead characters also happen to be in love, although it takes them years to admit it to themselves and to each other—and here we enter classical territory. A massive body of academic literature has traced the essential elements of most romantic fiction, both highbrow and low, to the influential pen of novelist Jane Austen. There's a good reason why Austen's Pride and Prejudice and, to a lesser extent, Emma, keep getting remade for film and TV. The clashes between Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy, or between Emma and her eventual husband (whom I won't name for the benefit of those not familiar with the story), outline archetypal plot structures that have supported everything from screwball comedy to Harlequin Romances.

Underneath its bouncy R&B soundtrack and urban setting, Prince-Bythewood's L&B treads in Austen's footsteps, but with its own distinctive style. By using basketball as the key connection shared by the lovers, the writer/director gives her story a contemporary spin. If there's one thing an Austen heroine would not have done, it's compete at a man's activity—and worse, do it well. In L&B, the "prejudice" that separates the heroine from the man of her dreams isn't directed against him so much as against the kind of woman she imagines would betray herself for the sake of a man, any man. Only when she gets past that obstacle is she able to listen to her heart.

L&B is divided into four acts, which are whimsically labeled as "quarters" of a basketball game. The first is set in 1981, when the Wright family moves into an unnamed black middle-class suburb of Los Angeles. Their new home is next door to the house of the McCalls. Zeke McCall (Dennis Haysbert, the future President Palmer on 24) is a star point guard for the L.A. Clippers, and his son, Quincy (played as a child by Glenndon Chatman), expects to follow his father's example, despite the urging of Zeke and Quincy's mother, Nona (Debbi Morgan), that he get an education first.

The Wrights, Nathan (Harry Lennix, currently on The Blacklist) and Camille (Alfre Woodard, Star Trek: First Contact), have two daughters, the girlish Lena and a tomboy named Monica (played as a child by Kyla Pratt) who lives for basketball. Masquerading as a boy, Monica tricks Quincy into letting her join him and his friends in a pickup game, and ends up with her face bloodied. Thus is born a friendship and a rivalry that will, over the years, deepen into a special connection between the two neighbors that they will find lacking whenever they're with someone else.

The second quarter is set in 1988, when both Quincy and Monica (now played by Omar Epps of House, M.D. and Sanaa Lathan of The Best Man Holiday) are seniors at Crenshaw High. Each is a star player on the school's basketball teams. Tensions are high in the McCall household, because Zeke spends even less time at home now that he is retired from the NBA and trying to become a sports agent. The Wright home is peaceful, except for Monica's arguments with her mother, who wants her to devote less time to basketball and more to girlish pursuits like her sister, Lena (now played by Regina Hall).

In the film's third quarter, both Quincy and Monica are freshmen at USC, where both have been recruited for the men's and women's college teams. But their experiences are very different. Quincy plays before cheering crowds in a huge amphitheater, women accost him left and right, and NBA scouts urge him to turn pro immediately, a decision his father repeatedly discourages. Monica gets pushed hard by her tough coach (Colleen Matsuhara), razzed by her ulta-competitive teammates, and plays her games before small crowds in the men's gym. These adversities simply reaffirm her commitment to the game, but they strain her relationship with Quincy, as all of Monica's energy becomes focused on becoming the best. Meanwhile, Quincy, to whom success on the court has always come easily, loses his edge when his mother and father split. With the dissolution of his parents' marriage, the wellspring of Quincy's confidence goes dry.

For the fourth quarter, the story leaps ahead to 1993. Monica is in Barcelona, Spain, because Europe has a thriving female sports culture. As one of Monica's former USC teammates says, Europe treats them like "movie stars", where America neglects them. Even though Monica has to have someone translate the coach's instructions, she's the star of a championship team, recognized throughout town and routinely stopped for autographs. But something is missing. Not only is she homesick, but all of the fun has gone out of basketball. Meanwhile, at home Quincy has joined the NBA and bounced from one team to another. When he is sidelined with an injury, he gets a surprise visit from Monica that brings up old feelings (and issues) for both of them.

This brief outline only hints at the richness of incident with which Prince-Bythewood has packed L&B, all of it played with genuine conviction by Epps and Lathan (and, for their short segment, their child counterparts). Together, the director and acting ensemble trace the gradual evolution of a relationship that neither Quincy nor Monica realizes at the time is the most intimate they have ever had: one in which the other person truly sees and cares about everything they are. The need they develop for each other goes far beyond physical attraction (though they have that too), but they both must be knocked down by life before they can acknowledge the need.

In Quincy's case, the blow comes from discovering that the father he idolized has made mistakes. The pivotal moment for Monica comes in a confrontation with her mother. It's a dazzling scene, played to perfection by Lathan and Alfre Woodard, in which long-repressed accusations are quietly hurled, and both women are brought up short by things they've misunderstood about each other for years.

Love & Basketball Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Love & Basketball was shot on film by Reynaldo Villalobos, whose diverse résumé includes Risky Business, A Bronx Tale and most of the first season of Breaking Bad. I do not know whether Warner Home Video did a new transfer for this 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray, but the results are excellent. Villalobos is known for the deep blacks of his nighttime scenes, and there are several key ones in L&B, where the Blu-ray image shows off the DP's work with characters and backgrounds clearly visible against a solidly black frame. Just as effective, however, are the brightly lit basketball tournament scenes, equally detailed and often popping with bright colors. Because L&B is essentially a love story with a happy ending, the visual style has a kind of heightened realism, where everything looks more glamorous, shinier and prettier than everyday life. The Blu-ray reproduces this look admirably, and there is always plenty of fine detail, so that, e.g., the scar on Monica's face from her initial childhood encounter with Quincy (a real scar on actress Sanaa Lathan's face that was written into the script) is readily visible.

The image has a fine grain texture that is visible but never distracting. Warner Home Video has mastered L&B with an average bitrate of 25.83 Mbps, which falls at the upper end of their usual range. The rate spikes up for the fast-paced action on the basketball court and drops down for the quieter interpersonal scenes, which are usually one on one. No visible artifacts appeared.

Love & Basketball Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

L&B's 5.1 soundtrack, encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA, reproduces the enthusiastic ambiance of cheering audiences (large and small) at various sporting events and the crowded dance floors at both a high school dance and several college night spots. The soundtrack pulses with Terence Blanchard's R&B score, which weaves together an expressive selection of songs new and old. (The soundtrack CD was a modest success.) Memorable moments include Al Green's "Love and Happiness", which opens the film; Lucy Pearl's "Dance Tonight", for which a music video appears in the extras; and Angie Stone's cover of the Simply Red song, "Holding Back the Years". The dialogue is clear and cleanly delivered.

Love & Basketball Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

New Line Cinema, which is now a division of Warner, previously released Love & Basketball in 2000 as a Platinum Series DVD. Most of the special features from that DVD have been ported over to Blu-ray, with the exception of the isolated music track (including commentary with composer Terence Blanchard and others) and the DVD-ROM features (including a script-to-screen comparison).

• Commentary with Writer/Director Gina Prince-Bythewood and Actor Sanaa Lathan: This commentary differs from the usual, because the director and star devote very little of their comments to the making of the film. The bulk of their discussion relates to their own experience with athletics, which is considerable in Prince-Bythewood's case and limited in Lathan's (although she studied as a dancer). Lathan does describe her lengthy audition process, followed by intensive training so that she could perform the basketball sequences without a stunt double.



• Breaking the Glass Ceiling: The Rise and Acceptance of Women Competitors (480i; 1.78:1, enhanced; 36:50): This documentary consists of interviews with successful women in a variety of fields, not limited to athletics, recounting their experiences and providing perspectives.



• Deleted Scenes (480i; 1.78:1, enhanced; 5:57): The six scenes are not separately listed or selectable. None of them adds any new plot information, but all of them provide additional character beats.



• Outtakes (480i; 1.85:1; 3:04): As gag reels go, this is lackluster.



• Audition Tapes (480i; 1.33:1; 10:06): Audition tapes of Omar Epps and Sanaa Lathan doing several scenes from an early draft of the script. Note that the childhood injury suffered by Monica is, at this point, a lost tooth rather than a scar on the face. Also included is an audition between their childhood counterparts.



• Storyboards (480i; 1.78:1, enhanced; 7:20).



• Lucy Pearl "Dance Tonight" Music Video (480i; 1.33:1; 3:50).



• Theatrical Trailer (480i; 1.85:1, enhanced; 2:27).

Love & Basketball Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

In its July 16, 2012 issue, Entertainment Weekly published a list of the 50 Best Movies You've Never Seen. While these kinds of lists don't usually have much to recommend them, this one picked up an eclectic mix of gems, including Layer Cake, Bubba Ho-Tep, Enter the Void, Fish Tank and Lilya 4-Ever. It also included Love & Basketball, which it said "at its core, is a film about growing up". Agreed, and highly recommended.