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White Men Can't Jump (1992)

tomatometer

77

Average Rating: 6.2/10
Reviews Counted: 39
Fresh: 30 | Rotten: 9

White Men Can't Jump provides a fresh take on the sports comedy genre, with a clever script and a charismatic trio of leads.

75

Average Rating: 6/10
Critic Reviews: 8
Fresh: 6 | Rotten: 2

White Men Can't Jump provides a fresh take on the sports comedy genre, with a clever script and a charismatic trio of leads.

audience

61

liked it
Average Rating: 3/5
User Ratings: 145,009

My Rating

Movie Info

Ron Shelton (Bull Durham) wrote and directed the basketball-oriented seriocomedy White Men Can't Jump. Woody Harrelson plays Billy Hoyle, a white con artist who hustles basketball games with black players, lulling his victims into the misguided notion that white men can't match up with black hoopsters. One of his victims, African-American Sidney Deane (Wesley Snipes), becomes Hoyle's "agent," arranging his various inner city scams. Deane doesn't feel as though he's selling out his own people; he

R, 1 hr. 55 min.

Drama, Comedy

Aug 14, 2001

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

Cast

All Critics (39) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (33) | Rotten (9) | DVD (11)

This picture is packed with fun, but it doesn't really go anywhere.

March 25, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This film unfolds in an uncommonly sweet, harmonious climate, one in which rude remarks are the sine qua non of friendship. And that benign atmosphere becomes a large part of its charm.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
New York Times
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What Shelton fails to provide is a coherent structure; the film is wearyingly repetitive.

May 12, 2001 Comment
Rolling Stone
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For the most part, it's a provocative one-on-one between racial opposites Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comment
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Here is a comedy of great high spirits, with an undercurrent of sadness and sweetness that makes it a lot better than the plot itself could possibly suggest.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | Comment
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

This is one director who loves words, and what a rare thing that is.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Washington Post | Comment
Washington Post
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Hustlin' hoops tale with too much skin for kids.

December 18, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

Even basketball-phobes will enjoy it.

July 31, 2008 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment

Succeeds only intermittently.

March 25, 2007 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | Comment
TV Guide's Movie Guide

A double-whammy slam-dunker of a movie.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

Amusing and fun.

June 2, 2004 Comment
New Times

Episodic by enjoyable. Rosie Perez steals this one.

April 30, 2004 Comment
Nitrate Online

A pretty terrific and very different kind of sports comedy.

October 2, 2003 Comment
Capital Times (Madison, WI)

Rosie Perez steals the movie from the two male leads

July 18, 2003 Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice | Comment
Spirituality and Practice
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for White Men Can't Jump

Classic Hollywood comic drama affair, with Ali G like humour - "is it cos I is white?". Snipes and Harrelson have a great chemistry that make for fun basketball hustling scenes with the slick dialogue.

December 3, 2011
RossCollinsUK

Super Reviewer

Pretty much a film with nothing but reverse racism throughout. 2 Stars

June 22, 2011
bbcfloridabound
Bruce Bruce

Super Reviewer

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November 29, 2007:
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