‘He Got Game’: Slow to Score

In “He Got Game,” Denzel Washington plays a convict who is promised leniency if he persuades his son, a high school basketball star, to enroll in a university favored by the governor. Trouble is, the son hates his dad and won’t listen. Rated R.

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Bill Maxwell and Jeff Fiola can’t get enough basketball. They look for pickup games after school, watch the NBA on TV and have posters of favorite stars on their bedroom walls.

The boys, both from Mission Viejo, thought Spike Lee’s latest, “He Got Game,” would be perfect to feed their passion. But Lee, a huge New York Knicks fan himself, has apparently committed a foul. Bill, 15, and Jeff, 16, didn’t much like the movie after seeing it recently in Lake Forest.

“There wasn’t much hoops,” Bill said. “I thought there would be more.”

“It was more about them [Jake, played by Washington, and his son, Jesus, played by Ray Allen] than the game,” Jeff added. “It was kinda slow.”

They wanted more bounce and less bonding. But Lee is most interested in exploring the father-son relationship once Jake is temporarily released from prison, where he is being held for accidentally killing his wife--Jesus’ mother.

Basketball isn’t much more than a backdrop; the film’s focus is clearly on the problems Jake and Jesus face while trying to resurrect their love for each other. Jeff and Bill found it difficult to connect with either character.

“[Jake] just seemed to want to use [Jesus]” to secure his parole, Jeff said. “I couldn’t really get behind what was happening with them.”

There are a few on-court scenes so we can see what a talented athlete Jesus is. Lee’s camera cuts in close on him and his buddies dashing up the court, dishing off or spinning for jump shots. And a crucial scene near the movie’s end pits Jake, a pretty good player himself, against his son in an emotional one-on-one game.

Wilfredo Chavez, 14, of Lake Forest thought these moments were OK--and that there weren’t enough of them. “[The film] just wasn’t exciting.”

Some kids, however, enjoyed “He Got Game.” Fifteen-year-old Caroline Colyer of Laguna Beach thought Jake’s and Jesus’ story was compelling, especially when Lee looks critically at the way big colleges recruit hot athletes. Jesus is offered money, cars and sex to sign a letter of intent.

“[Recruiters] wanted him and they’d do anything to get him,” Caroline said, a little surprised.

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PARENTS’ PERSPECTIVE: “He Got Game” has a few sex scenes, which bothered Nanci Lopez, a Mission Viejo mom with two preteen daughters. That was enough for Lopez to steer families away from the film, which she also found at times overwrought and meandering. “It just didn’t carry me along. [Lee] has made a lot better pictures.”