White Men Can't Jump (1992) User Reviews

Can you, or should you hustle a hustler?

[hitchcockthelegend · 7/10 · 15 January 2009]

After Billy Hoyle hustles Sidney Deane on the basketball court, Deane offers Billy a proposition about teaming up to hustle the courts of Los Angeles. They are a great team, they are in fact wonderful players, but egos and greed are sure to become a problem, oh and Billy has some rather unsavoury characters after him to return a debt he owes. Can the boys resolve their differences? Can they keep their devoted women happy? All will be revealed in White Men Can't Jump.

White Men Can't Jump is a fine sports movie, offering up more than just a basic sport heart, it's funny, sly and really a rather effective piece of drama. The basketball scenes are very well handled by director Ron Shelton, with slow motion spins and beady drips of sweat glistening in the heat, and the chemistry between Woody Harrelson (Billy) and Wesley Snipes (Sidney) is first class, but really it's the power of Shelton's writing that makes this a most engaging picture (see also Bull Durham & the similarly undervalued Tin Cup).

After following these two guys thru their very rocky relationship you get to a point where you feel that we are about to wander down formula road, but Shelton pulls a trick to make the final last quarter an excellent, none conformity piece of film, one that judging by the less than favourable rating on this particular site, has not been wholly appreciated. Shame that, because other than Rosie Perez doing her best to annoy the viewers to death as Billy's suffering girlfriend Gloria Clemente, White Men Can't Jump is one of the better sports movies of the 90s. 7.5/10

Greed and Basketball. How Can You Not Like This Film?

[tfrizzell · 15 March 2001]

Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson team up on the playgrounds of L.A. to hustle all comers. The direction is sharp and the cinematography is surprisingly impressive as the mean streets of Los Angeles are caught with striking camera shots. The under-rated screenplay is intelligent, focused, and clever. All in all "White Men Can't Jump" is far from being a classic, but it is still a fine film that is better than many think. 4 stars out of 5.

Lively Basketball Adventure.

[rmax304823 · 7/10 · 12 April 2008]

You don't have to be a fan of basketball to enjoy this feel-good, humorous, dramatic, and lively story of two very good players, Wesley Snipes as Sidney and Woody Harrelson, and their women, Rosie Perez and Tyra Ferrell.

What lingo on the courts! What scurrilous insults are hurled back and forth with no one blinking an eye, what elegant contumely -- "Chump!", "Go on back to Mayberry," "Is your head made out of braille?" The basketball games played on neighborhood courts in LA are well shot, and the slow motion, finally, occupies an appropriate space in the narrative. Snipes, who is black, is a terrific action figure and his insults approach the rococo. Woody Harrelson, who is white, is not quite in the same acting league but manages to carry the part of Snipes' partner in the hustling game quite well. We don't get to see much of Snipes' wife, Tyra Ferrell, who wants nothing more than for her man to get a steady and sufficiently rewarding job to get them out of Vista Vue Apartments, where "there is no vista and there is no view and there sure as hell is no view of no vista." Perez also has vague longings of settling down and gives Harrelson two grand to buy smart-looking suits so he can make an impression in job interviews. (He squirts the money away, as usual.) The game of basketball, although it takes up considerable film space, is really not much more than a tool that allows the film makers to explore the relationship between a white guy and an African-American guy, neither of whom is more than usually predisposed towards racial harmony. There's an entertaining comic argument about whether Harrelson, who enjoys listening to Jimi Hendrix on the tape deck of his dilapidated car ("a classic") can really HEAR Hendrix. It's not enough just to LIKE him. Snipes is nonplussed to learn that Hendrix's drummer was a white guy.

The movie is a fantasy. The likelihood of these two oddly matched hustlers making scads of dough on the courts of Watts, and walking away with their body parts intact, never mind the money, isn't particularly high. Three of the characters -- Snipes, Harrelson, and Perez -- are extraordinarily bright and articulate within the limits of their conventions. Perez wins more than ten thousand dollars on "Jeopardy." And the two men are whizzes on the court. The film SEEMS to be about race, but it's not. Except for the insults, race doesn't enter into the story at all. Harrelson might as well be black himself. He not only talks the talk, he dribbles the dribble. The whole issue of white racism and black solidarity is swept under the rug.

That's not to denigrate the movie. It's a lot of fun. The air on the courts is foggy with the most gut-churning calumny. It becomes poetic at times. And the movie never turns sentimental. There are no important speeches on how we all have to live together -- men and women, as well as black and white. Thank God for small favors. The friendship that develops between Snipes and Harrelson never turns "warm." Like most male friendships, it turns on instrumental behavior -- joint effort on the courts. And the movie ends on exactly that kind of note.

Not bad.

courtship

[RanchoTuVu · 8/10 · 22 September 2005]

A gritty comedy set in some tough LA neighborhoods about two basketball hustlers, one white (Woody Harrelson), the other black (Wesley Snipes). After hustling each other, they finally team up to play in a tournament, where with a combination of skill and trash talk they defeat the two guys who normally would have left them in the dust. The trash talk gets silly at times, while the subplot of underworld characters who are chasing Harrelson for an unpaid debt seems to be there only to explain logically why he hustles in the first place, as if he would do something else with his life. In any event, the games go from Venice Beach to Watts, and the settings are as good as the stars. Especially so are the cheap motels where Harrelson and girlfriend Rosie Perez have to live, and the inner city apartment where Snipes and his wife Tyra Ferrel call home, all of which adds up to a realistic slice of life at the time, which now seems to look quite a bit different. Intelligently written and well photographed, it has laid in the back of the shelves at countless video stores waiting to be rediscovered.

Woody and Wesley when dey was cool

[ztruk2001 · 8/10 · 12 March 2005]

Undeniably Hoosiers would get the win, if they ever polled film buffs and critics asking what the best movie is revolving around basketball. Hoosiers, the movie about a failing Indiana high school basketball team being led to success by their new coach played by Gene Hackman and the drunken assistant coach (Dennis Hooper) has enjoyed its fair share of the spotlight. Granted the field of movies about basketball isn't nearly as deep as say movies with plots concerning baseball or boxing, Hoosiers still generally beats out what little competition there is.

However in my opinion the best movie to ever capture the game of hoops is the criminally underrated and underseen White Men Can't Jump, by director Ron Shelton. Shelton also brought us the more popular baseball film Bull Durham and the golf flick Tin Cup. But I'd argue White Men Can't Jump is his centerpiece. The story revolves around two street court b-ball hustlers. One new in town, smooth, and white (Woody Harrelson), undoubtedly to his advantage. The other man, a black, a veteran of the LA courts, and fast-talking (Wesley Snipes). After Harrelson hustles Snipes the two form an unlikely partnership "ebony and ivory" but as always it is on edge and lacks a required amount of trust.

For a film that was released in the aftermath of the Rodney King beating and the L.A. riots and just before the O.J. Simpson debacle, White Men Can't Jump is surprisingly mature, witty, light hearted and open-minded in its approach to the race issue. Ron Shelton's dialogue is amazingly rapid fire and smart. It bites and certainly has a sting to it, but it's all in good fun. The multi-flamboyant personalities on the outdoor L.A. street courts hustler each other, crack "yo-mama" jokes with one another, and try to look better than the other. This is the movie that really put Wesley Snipes on the map and showed that Woody Harrelson was far more than just another face in the "Cheers" ensemble. Both provide excellent work in not only playing the characters but also learning how to play basketball and talk like actual street hustlers. There's very few standins here. Both Snipes and Harrelson learned to play the sport as well as any actor could be expected to. Rosie Perez is good as Harrelson's annoying and overbearing Puerto Rican girlfriend. If any one word can describe White Men Can't Jump, that word is "fun." The movie tackles serious issues like hustling, family, relationships, race, life in poverty, and gambling debts. However if Robert Rossen's pool hall film The Hustler presented the dark side of the life, Ron Shelton's White Men Can't Jump shows the flip side of the coin. How hustling can be fun and games.

Grade: A-

The Hustler of Basketball Movies

[Sargebri · 14 April 2003]

Ron Shelton does it again. He does a great job of capturing the culture of basketball hustlers and how they go from court to court hustling games and making money. He gets everything right even down to the trash talk on the court. Woody Harrelson is perfect as the n'er do well Billy and Wesley Snipes is perfect as the fast talking Sidney. This also to me is the breakout performance of Rosie Perez. Perez is perfect as Billy's kookie girlfriend Gloria. This film is definitely a classic.

Excellent

[bbc-2 · 9/10 · 28 June 1999]

This is a truly excellent movie! Lots of people have bashed it as a "basketball" movie, but the truth is, it ain't about basketball at all. It could have been hockey, dart playing or curling, it wouldn't matter. It's about human weaknesses and making new friends. Rosie Perez gave probably her best performance ever, and the interplay between Harrelson and Snipes is great. Don't miss it.

More than just basketball

[Movie_Beta · 7/10 · 21 April 2023]

Recently seeing a trailer for a remake of this iconic but somewhat forgotten 90's film made me realise the original was long overdue a rewatch.

It is more than just a sports film, it's a an evolution of the 'buddy' movies and 'odd couple' movies of 80's (think Lethal Weapon, Stir Crazy, Twins, Trading Places). So in effect it is about the relationship, and the chemistry between Snipes and Harrelson is excellent. You really feel for each character in their highs and especially lows throughout the movie, and wonder how they will scrape themselves out the next scam they create.

The games scenes are really well shot with slo-mo action of the actors doing some cool skills and plays on the court, making me wonder how long they trained at basketball to prepare for this film!? The comedy element does not get overlooked either and the banter between the two leads is especially fun and does not feel forced. Also worth a mention is the scene of the store hold up robbery which is a genuinely funny moment.

On the downside, It does feel a little dated now, from the court fashion to the scenes of the tough neighbourhoods and the assorted hustlers and gangs, you don't get the impression of any true danger to the interlopers. Also some of the stereotypes are quite cliched, but then the film is really based wholly on the one big stereotype of the title.

Overall a good movie that is original and has a more genuinely fun interplay of characters than you might expect. A fun and somewhat underrated movie.

7/10.

The Funniest Sports Comedy Ever

[claudonio · 10/10 · 6 February 2000]

"White Men Can't Jump" is an hysterically funny movie that is one of the funniest I've seen. Director Ron Shelton has made other sports comedies before but this is his best one. Wesely Snipes and Woody Harrelson play off each other perfectly and make a memorable team. This film is highly profane but it has very inventive and witty dialoge. A very funny film.

This is not about black and white. This is about money! This is about greed!

[mark.waltz · 9/10 · 27 July 2023]

Cheers to both Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes for one of the funniest "buddy" movies of modern times. Well reluctant buddies, and not exactly friends, as their relationship isn't exactly based on things that friends share, yet they become connected through their love of basketball and $green$. The constant banter between them at first would normally bring a black man and white man to blows, but even after humiliating Snipes on the court, Harrelson obviously impresses him to the point to where they become a two man basketball team, entering contests where their continued conflicts only reveal how alike they both are. Harrelson is in trouble with gangster debt collectors and needs Snipes to help him get money fast.

An expert at playing hysterically funny annoying women, Rosie Perez is the complete opposite of her toxic funny lady in "It Should Happen to You", showing her range as Harrelson's far too supportive girlfriend. With Nicolas Cage, she was a self-centered dingbat, only in love with herself, but here, she's too loving, yet always speaks before she's speaking, even though it's obvious that her heart is in the right place. Usually characters like hers annoy me, but Perez seems to be winking at the audience to let them know what she's really doing in her performance. These characters are Latina versions of Jean Harlow in "Dinner at Eight", Judy Holliday in "Born Yesterday" and Lesley Ann Warren in "Victor/Victoria" where in the first two cases, you're rooting for them to be happy and in the last case laughing at the character while laughing along with the actress. She's hysterically funny in a sequence where her character ends up on "Wheel of Fortune".

As Snipes' wife, Tyra Ferrell doesn't have the screentime that Perez has, but her strong, commanding performance makes her likeable and truthful, the one voice of reason among the two couples. There's also a great trio of mature black men singing spirituals on the Santa Monica Beach Park, and I wish there was more of them. They sure deserved a better tip than what Harrelson gives them. The script is very funny with observations on racial conflict both smart and sardonic, with the conflicts put on hold as Harrelson starts to gain a little bit of trust from Snipes and a few of his friends. This is the type of film that certainly could have had a few sequels with the right script because I wouldn't mind seeing what could happen with these characters.

Great chemistry from the leads

[Floated2 · 7/10 · 22 June 2019]

Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson star in this film as a couple of con men scheming their ways on the basketball court by betting on their opposing allies. With an intriguing story line added with likable and rootable leads, also with clever sub plots, this film succeeds as an entertaining piece of sports film. Although this film does feel outdated watching in today's day and age, it holds up and is better than initially expected. Rosie Perez is another piece which stands out for the better. White Men Can't Jump got its attention due to its title but it's more than just a sports film, it's further about life and relationships. Underrated film if anything.

Funny, Wacky and Friendly

[Falcon-51 · 7/10 · 14 October 1999]

Wesley and Woody are great together. Perez is a plus. You don't have to be a fan of the game to love this movie. It's fast paced, funny and if you are a fan of hoops then you are in Basketball movie heaven. Hustle out to the video store and rent yourself a copy. The film also has more Mama jokes than you can shake a stick at.

entertaining

[abknor · 7/10 · 7 September 2003]

This movie is well-made: it tells a good story, and maintains high production values. The playing-off of different cultures does not really work, but then again that was not central to the story. The hustler being hustled theme could have done with some more Roald Dahl-like wit, but all in all this is an amusing comedy (it does not reach out enough to be considered a dramedy) and a worthy rental for those boring winter evenings.

"The Hustler" for Basketball

[Cineanalyst · 7/10 · 22 July 2021]

"White Men Can't Jump" is one of the better sports films from writer-director and former baseball player Ron Shelton's inconsistent oeuvre. I mean, "Bull Durham" (1988) and "Cobb" (1994), but also "Blue Chips" (1994), "Tin Cup" (1996) and "Play It to the Bone" (1999). This street-ball one is amusing, though, especially the trash talking and hot-dogging on the court, and Woody Harrelson, Wesley Snipes and Rosie Perez are all at the top of their games.

The flashy play makes sense, though. There's really only one play for a two-on-two match involving smaller players, like Harrelson and Snipes: picks with the option to roll or pop. They face similar dilemmas off the court. Otherwise, there's mostly futile give-'n-goes, a lot of putting the ball between legs and behind backs, spinning it of the backboard for layups and, of course, the jocular insults. So, it's impressive alone that the basketball scenes aren't an utter bore. Decent scoring helps, too, but I think there's something there in "The Hustler" connection. The players are always playing the angles, gambling riskily, and the interpersonal stakes are constantly in flux. The added dynamic from the team sport is the prospect of a buddy picture, so maybe it's more "The Color of Money" (1986) in that respect, to continue the pool-hall comparison with the sequel to "The Hustler," or to move to the card room of another "Hustler" knockoff, "Rounders" (1998). There's also the added racial dynamics at play, on the eve of the Bird-Magic era in the NBA, and, graciously, this is kept at a personal level without laboring any wider social message.

I also find it amusing that even though they account for Harrelson's inability to dunk--it's in the title--the film still frames the narrative as possibly a dream, as if that he can play at all might be unbelievable. Note, that is, that he goes to sleep on the court in the opening scene. This is further framed by music, and there's much made within the possible-dream narrative of him hearing the music. Personally, I suspect the entire movie a dream given that its Venice Beach looks rather pleasant and the buskers charming. My experiential prejudices aside, though, movies, after all, are like a dream. Probably the main shortcoming of "White Men Can't Jump" to my mind is that it doesn't do much with this prospect, or any, although I'm not opposed to the ambiguity, or the simplicity necessarily. The arc of Perez's character of her dream of appearing on TV's "Jeopardy!" fits well enough into this aspect, but I'm not sure that Harrelson's protagonist fits as well--dreaming of showboating to locales over a few thousand dollars and struggling to keep his girlfriend and not be killed by game fixers to whom he owes money. Both performative and a sort of fame, I suppose, and the hustling, or con, which by its nature is to be revealed when it turns out he can play, adds another reflexive dimension, but still a small dream.

A nice duo

[SkullScreamerReturns · 5/10 · 4 January 2020]

Somewhat funny comedy of two wacky guys who paired together almost equal Eddie Murphy class of motormouthness. I liked the beginning the best when the two guys meet and start to plan their great tricks together. But for some reason the latter half I started to lose my attention.

It's an average comedy. Not essential for everybody but can be recommended for basketball/sports movie fans and those who want to see every 80's/90's comedy.

not really about basketball at all

[sjmdd · 9/10 · 11 August 2009]

A movie that on the surface appears to be about sport - basketball- has a much deeper undertone if you look closer, a movie that uses the sport as a metaphor for the distinctions between blacks and whites in America. I've always loved this movie, i first saw it many years ago when i was about 14 and felt the wit and chemistry between harrelson and snipes is top notch, now im older i see things i didn't see before. Personally i feel you can take the movie in two ways. you either see it as a buddy comedy or a movie which shows how blacks and whites view each other. the way in which snipes is presented may be a cliché - black man, ultra confident, feels that coz hes black hes better than harrelson - but is this a cliché? most of the black guys in the movie feel that harrelsons character billy is a 'chump', and are quick to put him down. even the movies title 'white men cant jump' is a thinly vieled reference to the viewpoint of black America. this is not a racist perspective, its simply how it is, sidney (snipes) even gets into a discussion with harrelson about jimmy hendrix, about his apparently white drummer and how billy cant listen to hendrix, he can only hear him. billy for his part, uses the fact that hes a white guy to his advantage when he and snipes are hustling. these class colour elements serve to make white men cant jump a far better movie than it is given credit for, and is worth a better look if you think its just another sports comedy. David Ford

Watched it a hundred times

[terrmoore · 10/10 · 5 January 2008]

Every chance I get I will watch this movie when it is broadcast. I just love it, if not for the sport, but the characters and the scenery. I feel like I am at a California Beach with them. I love the way Wesley and Woody interact with each other and could not imagine any other actor taking either of their places. I wish they would have made a WMCJ II. Their skill in playing is quite remarkable and very entertaining. Their lines that they hit off each other with immediate comebacks are very witty. The admiration that they had for each other was kept very well hidden until the director decided to let you get a glimpse of their feelings. A great movie with great actors.

Good

[manitobaman81 · 7/10 · 30 August 2014]

Recently I have been so trapped in another round of emotional lows that I can't turn to anybody for any comfort. I am always thinking that I lack talent and that the only way I can be qualified, not successful, in competitions with others is to work harder than them so that my diligence makes up for my weaknesses. I admire the talented so much.

With this in mind, I rented WHITE MEN CAN'T JUMP and it made me feel like a new person. Wesley and Woody are great together. The screenplay is intelligent, focused and clever. This is a truly excellent movie, and it becomes poetic at times. Overall, I can give it no less than 7 out of 10.

Takes me back 30 years

[moivieFan · 7/10 · 11 March 2023]

I first watched white men can't jump years ago around the time it came out. Back then I had no idea it was directed by the same person Ron Shelton who directed Bull Durham. Of the two movies Bull Durham is my favorite.

I thought Woody Harrelson and. Wesley Snipes were good. When I was watching the movie I thought that maybe it was not realistic for actors who were 5'10 and 5'11 to be basketball hustlers.

I thought Rosie Perez was good as Billy's girlfriend. And the fact that she was studying waiting for Jeopardy to call was was mildly interesting..

And I thought the fact that Gloria and Billy were on the run from the stookie brothers was something that led to the funniest scene in the movie.

At the end of the movie the stookie brothers finally catch up to Billy. He gives them the money and then we see billy laying on a couch cushion with blood coming out of his mouth. The stookies take pictures and then bill gets up. He is alive.

So while if I thought about it I could tell before watching the movie that Billy and Sidney would be good as basketball hustlers and that Gloria would get on Jeopardy and win big.

I still that that white men can't jump was and entertaining movie to watch.

Interesting Despite All-Sleazy Characters

[ccthemovieman-1 · 4/10 · 13 September 2006]

This was a popular movie probably because of the humor in it, the fast-moving story, an underdog character who shuts up all the loudmouths, etc. Funny thing is, you probably couldn't make a movie with this title if you substituted anybody but "white" as anything else would be deemed racist by the PC police.

Nonetheless, Woody Harrleson as the white guy who turns out to be as good if not better than any of the black basketball players, is interesting as is his main counterpart Wesley Snipes.

Snipes had a lot of funny put-down lines, providing much of the humor. The bad part of the film - which doesn't bother a lot of people - is the extreme profanity in here and the sleaziness of all the characters. That includes Woody's girlfriend, played by Rosie Perez. There are no really clean, nice people in this movie. For that reason, I can't honestly recommend the film, at least not to friends or those who are offended by a lotof profanity

Trash-talking as an art form: funny buddy comedy

[george.schmidt · 23 April 2003]

WHITE MEN CAN'T JUMP (1992) *** Woody Harrelson, Wesley Snipes, Rosie Perez. Very amusing basketball comedy with Woody and Wesley teaming up again (they first co-starred in "Wildcats" with Goldie Hawn) as jive-talking hustling b'ball cons for big bucks and Perez as Woody's fast-talking, "Jeopardy!" obsessed girlfriend. Winningly directed by Ron Shelton. Best bit is the verbal one-upmanship on the courts!

Cindy Brady v. Farrakhan Disciple

[view_and_review · 8/10 · 23 August 2018]

I remember back in '92 shortly before this movie was released, Woody Harrelson appeared on The Arsenio Hall show to help promote the movie. They set a hoop for him to shoot a few baskets but that didn't matter to me. If Woody was good enough for the Arsenio show then I was going to watch his movie.

White Men Can't Jump is still a classic. This hustler v. hustler turned hustling teammates movie was funny and entertaining. The banter back and forth between Billy (Woody Harrelson) and Sidney (Wesley Snipes), the gamesmanship, the hoops--it was excellent. Sidney was the local baller that had as much mouth as game. Billy was his own worst enemy with his rash monetary decisions. He was in and out of the doghouse with his girlfriend Gloria (Rosie Perez) as well as on the run from some mobsters. Speaking of Rosie Perez, she was the only blight on this movie. If her body wasn't so amazing then I highly doubt she'd have any career in acting because her voice is supremely annoying. That high-pitched, somewhat nasally, Peurto Rican/Brooklyn accent drove me nuts--and not in a good way.

This movie was really about Snipes and Harrelson and their ability to hold it down--and that they did. They played well off of each other making the movie funny and at times sad--not sad in a depressing, tear-shedding way but sad in a I-feel-sorry-for-you way. WMCJ is a fixture in cinematic lore.

6.8 for this movie is ridiculous

[hstteach · 10/10 · 18 October 2019]

Are I serious? This is an absolute classic and if you didn't enjoy this movie then you don't enjoy much of anything I guess. 6.8? Some of you have issues.

Very Funny!

[mmoore · 5 April 1999]

After repeated viewing I still find this movie hilarious. I think to appreciate this movie you have to have a love for basketball from a schoolyard sense. I have seen this kind of play myself with the entire trash-talking going on. The basic concept is people who can't get control their lives the way they wanted, but know they can control the outcome of a basketball game because of their skills. The movie is funny without being stupid. I would recommend any basketball fan watch this movie.

Hilarious

[SnoopyStyle · 8/10 · 28 February 2016]

On an L.A. beachside basketball court, loudmouth Sidney Deane (Wesley Snipes) gets schooled by goofy white boy Billy Hoyle (Woody Harrelson). It turns out that Billy is a former college player. Sidney lives with his very loud girlfriend Jeopardy-obsessed Gloria Clemente (Rosie Perez) on the run from thugs. Sidney suggests teaming up to hustle some real money before competing in a two on two tournament.

There are plenty of yo'mama jokes. It's ridiculous. It's irreverent. It's hilarious. Snipes and Harrelson have great chemistry. Rosie Perez is a gem. She's not only a looker but also an explosive personality. This is simply a fun, fun romp. The movie tries its best to make the guys look good on the court. It succeeds for the most part. This is a great trio and a fun time with racial comedy.