{"id":26472,"date":"2023-05-18T11:59:33","date_gmt":"2023-05-18T18:59:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=26472"},"modified":"2023-05-18T11:59:33","modified_gmt":"2023-05-18T18:59:33","slug":"white-men-cant-jump-isnt-as-edgy-as-the-original","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=26472","title":{"rendered":"WHITE MEN CAN\u2019T JUMP Isn\u2019t as Edgy as the Original"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Running Time: 101 minutes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This feature from 20th<\/sup> Century Studios will be\nstreaming Friday, May 16th exclusively on Hulu.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This week sees action blockbuster Fast X<\/em> being\nreleased at movie theaters everywhere. If you’ve already enjoyed the first nine\nchapters, nothing a reviewer asserts will make a significant change on whether\nor not a person is going to see the next chapter. So, instead of presenting a\nreview of a critic-proof movie, this writer decided to take a look and provide\nan analysis of an alternate option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While it isn’t a sequel, the new film White Men Can’t\nJump<\/em> is a remake of a sharp-witted 1992 sports comedy that starred Woody\nHarrelson and Wesley Snipes. As someone who saw and greatly enjoyed the\noriginal, it is admittedly hard to overcome a bias towards the first film. This\nupdated version does feature charismatic leads and delivers a few laughs, but\nit also waters down some of the original’s edge and unpredictability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kamal (Sinqua Walls) was once a basketball prodigy destined\nto become one of the game’s greatest players. But a violent episode ruins his\ncareer before it even starts, and ten years later he finds himself working as a\ndelivery man and only playing the game with close friends. After getting into\nan on-court argument with eccentric, wobbly-knees, health-drink salesman Jeremy\n(Jack Harlow), Kamal finds himself being hustled. Strangely enough, he doesn’t\nget angry and instead sees an opportunity. Kamal convinces Jeremy to take an\nact to the streets and begin hustling players to make extra money. Knowing the\ndishonest nature of their acts, they also do everything they can to prevent\ntheir significant others Imani (Teyana Taylor) and Tatiana (Laura Harrier) from\ndiscovering their scamming ways. When the two are invited to compete in a\npublic tournament for big money, it becomes difficult to keep up their ruse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As mentioned, the two leads are fun to watch. Kamal makes a\nmemorable impression as a man trying to provide for his family, yet struggles\nwith feelings of guilt and rage for destroying his own professional career. His\nsudden outbursts do create some tension during the film’s most intense matches.\nAnd Jeremy provides some chuckles with his ability to talk and get under the\nskin of opponents. The character also struggles with ACL injuries and\npainkiller addiction early in the film, although the drug issue is sadly\nbrushed to the side later in the film instead of providing more dramatic\nmaterial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A portion of the insulting chatter feels a bit obvious, but\nsome of the barbs the leads use on competitors to confuse or make them miss a\nshot is amusing to hear. There’s also a funny and over-the-top gag involving an\nextreme reaction after one confrontation gets particularly out of hand. These\nparticular moments are entertaining. The film is also nicely photographed with\nwell-edited game highlights as the teams play. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This may all work well enough if you have never seen the\noriginal film. Unfortunately, if you do remember the source material, that\ntitle was far edgier. Despite their issues, the leads in this redo are, well,\nnice guys. The first movie featured some nasty double-crosses and the\ncharacters couldn’t help but take advantage of others when an opportunity\narose… even if it also had terrible repercussions on their private lives. In\nthis film, the intentions of the two leads are almost entirely noble. And while\nthe female characters here are strong-willed, the dramatic stakes aren’t as\nhigh because the men are only taking part in scams in order to overcome\npersonal issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The leads in this film are quite compelling and there are\nchuckles, but in other respects this remake is a bit too nice – at times it\neven feels like it actually wants to inspire viewers instead of delivering\nbiting humor and big twists. White Men Can’t Jump<\/em> does score some\npoints, but could have used more sting to really compare to its predecessor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Running Time: 101 minutes This feature from 20th Century Studios will be streaming Friday, May 16th exclusively on Hulu. This week sees action blockbuster Fast X being released at movie theaters everywhere. If you’ve already enjoyed the first nine chapters, nothing a reviewer asserts will make a significant change on whether or not a person […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":26473,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[213,221,4660,6251,9474,10095,12134,18458,19794,24209,24211,24212,24213],"class_list":["post-26472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-213","tag-20th-century-studios","tag-comedy","tag-drama","tag-hulu","tag-jack-harlow","tag-laura-harrier","tag-sinqua-walls","tag-teyana-taylor","tag-white-men-cant-jump","tag-white-men-cant-jump-film-review","tag-white-men-cant-jump-movie-review","tag-white-men-cant-jump-review"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26472\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}