He Got Game Reviews

Lee should have drawn up a tighter game plan but just the same his hoops hoopla still has enough game (mostly in the form of Washington) to win over the audience.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5

Most scenes play too long, with a surplus of ideas, textures, tones and characters, and after 134 minutes it's clear Lee's problem with closure hasn't gone away.

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The hypocritical misogyny of He Got Game is a fundamental weakness that reviewers so far have been happy to downplay or even to dismiss.

Full Review | Original Score: C

Lee is a long way from the size and scope of his best film, Do the Right Thing, but at least he is working on a subject he cares about and is doing it with polish.

He Got Game is a film of highs and lows.

Full Review | Original Score: 70/100

The wildly uneven script includes both disciplined, lively riffs and amateurishly artificial exchanges.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4

While Washington and Allen provide some memorable moments, He Got Game often feels more like a lecture than a narrative film.

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A two-hour air ball.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4

There's enough thematic material here for two films; Lee decides to make them both simultaneously. The resulting film feels scattershot, heavy on interesting images and ideas but light on cohesiveness.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/10

Though too long by a good half hour, Lee's latest film packs a genuine emotional punch.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

At the end of Mr. Lee's movie, all you feel is the distraction of Mr. Lee's stylistic exhibitionism, without which, I concede, he might not be regarded as a genius in some quarters.

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A long, boring, meandering, dog of a movie.

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Only a director as good as Spike Lee could make a coherent movie out of this messy, jejune set-up ...

Full Review | Original Score: A

He Got Game is Lee's best film since Malcolm X.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4

an effective companion piece to Hoop Dreams and Blue Chips.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4

As a filmmaker, Lee only gets better.

Full Review | Original Score: 5/5

As usual, Lee tries many kinds of stylistic effects and uses wall-to-wall music (by Aaron Copland and Public Enemy); what's different this time is how personally driven the story feels.

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Spike Lee's He Got Game is gripping in spite of itself.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

For a guy who seems so intransigent in television interviews, Spike Lee is remarkably adept at exploring all the facets of a difficult issue

Full Review | Original Score: B+

You can be sitting on top of the world but if your heart is weighed down with hate, you're going to be one sorry, sad soul for a very long time.

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