Absolutely the worst movie.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

After directing Malcolm X, Spike Lee, along with John Singleton ('Boyz N the Hood'), became arguably the most popular and respected African American filmmaker of his time. Lee's wife, however, didn't like the fact that her husband's last original screenplay was nearly a decade ago and was vocal about it. Lee, then, decided to go back to do what originally launched him into the filmmaking world: writing and directing his own material. And although 'Malcolm X', an adaptation, was the biggest success of Lee's career, his rekindled desire to bring his own, fully original, story to the screen was the spark that led to 'He Got Game'.The film opens with an almost five-minute montage of people playing basketball, shooting, dunking, pivoting, blocking and what have you. Spike Lee, a huge Knicks fan, believes it's worth to spend five minutes of screen time with nothing but the basketball and the music, composed of several orchestral pieces by Aaron Coplan ('Raging Bull'). The montage ends with Jesus Shuttlesworth ('Ray Allen'), in the basketball court, shooting the ball, followed by Jake Shuttleworth ('Denzel Washington'), his father, in Attica's Correctional Facility, shooting the ball as well, and one can already feel that the only connection, if any, between that father and his son is basketball. Following that intro, Spike Lee begins to utilize the old fashioned three-act structure to begin his story.The warden calls Jake to his office, and we get to know about Jake's past and who he is through the warden's interview with him. The warden finally lays it out on the table and tells Jake what's what. The governor wants Jake to convince his son, Jesus, who is the number 1 basketball prospect in the country, to play for Big State University in exchange for a reduced sentence. Jake agrees and becomes wired by the two parole officers who will keep in touch with him. He got three days before he's sent back to Attica.Jake starts by meeting Mary, his little daughter, first, as that, in his mind, would make it easier for him to contact his son. When his son enters the house, he doesn't look his father in the eyes and scolds his sister for allowing a "stranger" in. Throughout the film, the father, during his numerous and brief encounters with his son, tries to convince Jesus to go to Big State, but with no success. Their past is so dark that no light could break through.In the best sequence of the film, during the last night of Jake's parole, he plays a defining basketball game in his final hours as a free man. If he wins, Jesus goes to Big State. If Jesus wins, Jake goes back to Attica. The stakes are high and as Jake plays and scores some points he begins to let go and shifts from wanting a reduced sentence to wanting forgiveness from Jesus (pun intended) and his murdered wife. He accepts his fate. He chooses the worse in hope of gaining the better later on. Only when they were separated again did he and his son connect more than they ever did.To call 'He Got Game' bad would be an understatement and to call it good would be euphemistic. The film pushes some buttons in the human nature and emotions but you never feel a solid film. Overlong at parts and extremely short at others, the film tries to find its rhythm during its two-hour running time and doesn't quite get it right, but with all its flaws, it came out watchable, if intriguing, at parts.

This movie is stupid. It is long and drawn out. Ray Allen should be ashamed of himself for the scenes he was in. Millions of kids look up to him and he is in a scene like that. I wonder what his daughter will think when she gets older and sees that scene. Unbelievable! The plot was just another stupid sports movies. The only good sports movies are true stories. That way it is not the typical same old repeated stuff that seem to surface in every basketball movie. Spike Lee is a joke and so is this movie. I was really excited to see this movie but if I wanted a porno I would have walked down to Blockbuster and got one. I lost every bit of respect for Ray Allen that I had.

The Spike Lee joint "He Got Game" is one of the director's most passionate films because it's about his own personal passion for the love of basketball, one of the richest and most mythic of sports. But to Lee, it's also the most holy and with that said, "He Got Game" has no shortage of religious undertones, symbolism, and imagery.Now, as a sometime fan of the game and occasional player of the game (though I was never really any good, and former Chicago Bulls player Michael Jordan ranks as my greatest athlete), I can see why Lee feels the way he does about the game and his film. "He Got Game" looks at the sport, the behind-the-scenes corruption and capitalism, greed, temptations, the relationship between father and son, and the Holy Game.But "He Got Game" is mostly about the relationship between the father and the son. Denzel Washington (in one of his best performances, and the third time he has worked with Lee) is Jake Shuttlesworth, a convict doing time for the manslaughter of his wife. Looking for a chance at redemption, he gets it when the governor, an adamant basketball fan, hears that Jake's son is the number-one basketball prospect in the country. In a once-in-a-lifetime chance, the governor, using the warden (Ned Beatty) as his go-to guy, agrees to reduce Jake's sentence if he can get his son to attend the governor's alma mater, Big State University.In order to do this, Jake is given a one-week temporary release from prison, with two parole officers (Jim Brown and Joseph Lyle Taylor) watching his every move. The deal is easier said done. Jake's son, Jesus (Ray Allen, of the Milwaukee Bucks), has nothing but contempt for him and while his younger sister Mary (Zelda Harris) and cousin Booger (Hill Harper) have forgiven him for his sins, Jesus's heart is still filled with hatred and resentment for his father. It just becomes a question of whether or not the son will forgive the sins of the father, and whether or not the father and the son can come together as one."He Got Game" is a powerful movie, rich in performances, imagery, and story. It is true that Lee has never made a "bad" film in his 20+ years as a filmmaker. Every film he makes is a new experience and will always keep you watching. While suffering from an overly long running time, a few under-developed characters (like Milla Jovovich's Dakota) and occasionally uneven storytelling, "He Got Game," like all of Lee's work, keeps you watching.It's mostly the father/son angle of the story that kept me watching. Washington is one of the strongest actors working in the industry today (some of his best moments are flashbacks to Jesus's childhood and why Jake pushed him so hard to be the best ballplayer that he could be, and the reasons behind Jake's incarceration, which are revealed to be far more complicated than first thought); while it is true that Allen is no great actor (he is an athlete, after all), he is at his best during his scenes with Washington. On his own, it's a bit of mixed effort. Lee's composer has frequently been Terence Blanchard, but replacing him this time is the emotive, driving score by Aaron Copland, blaring up during many of the film's strongest moments. Rap group Public Enemy also composed many of the songs appearing on the soundtrack; it marked their triumphant return to the rap game after a few disappointing albums.While I don't consider myself much of a religious person (despite a Baptist Christian upbringing), there is a lot of religious allegory in "He Got Game." Like his biblical namesake, Jesus is seen as the savior, the second coming and the resurrection of the game, and there are a number of temptations, many of which are of the flesh, that he has to overcome - from the dangers of being a young black man on Coney Island (where so many other promising talents have become victims), to the cash hand-outs, promises of fame by bypassing college altogether and going straight to the NBA, and finally to the young women luring him to the big universities with questionable "recruiting" practices, and there is also the sultry, Delilah-like girlfriend Lala (Rosario Dawson), who states point-blank that she's out to get hers too because once Jesus goes pro, she'll be forgotten. The only person capable of steering the son clear of these dangers is the guidance of the father, who's seeking his own redemption as well as the forgiveness and love of the son."He Got Game" remains one of Spike Lee's most passionate and cinematically mature efforts, despite a few missteps along the way. The ending is a great step from the usual "reality" of most traditional Hollywood endings, yet a further sign that Lee is maturing as a filmmaker. It's powerful, it's moving, and it has game. "He Got Game" proves once and for all, that the man behind the camera also has game.9/10

This is one of Spike Lee's best films. And the use of Copland's music only punctuated what absolute tenderness was already there. One of the last scenes when Washington's character throws the basketball over the prison wall and impossibly into Jesus's court while playing (one of the obvious interpretations of this scene being "the ball is now in his court") is one of the most beautiful scenes I've ever seen--pure magic. That last scene is so full of meaning and symbolism that it overpowers the mind with all the instinctual emotions that goes with that scene: namely the often difficult and mythic relationship between fathers and sons, forgiveness, acceptance, and of course transcendence.