When White Men Can’t Jump was released in 1992, it became a major hit and propelled the careers of Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson. Over 30 years later, the team of director Calmatic and producer Kenya Barris revive the film with a new look and new cast that features veteran actor Sinqua Walls and rap star Jack Harlow. The pairing was a little interesting when it was first announced, but they make a strong team for what was a solid film, which is now streaming on Hulu.
In the 2023 version of White Men Can’t Jump, Walls stars as Kamal, a former high school basketball standout who is now working odd jobs and playing less-than-average athletes at a local gym. There he meets Jeremy (Harlow) a former college basketball star who has two bad knees and instructs young players. Kamal finds out who Jermy is and the two team up to compete in the two-on-two tournament to win a lot of money. And while the two seem very different on the surface, they both are dealing with similar issues that hold them back from their ultimate goals.
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Walls, who has starred in TV shows such as Friday Night Lights and Power, has experience playing college basketball, so portraying a high school star seemed effortless for him. But it was surprising to see Harlow, a former athlete himself, have a strong performance in his acting debut. Both were able to play off each other which made that part of the movie entertaining. There were also good performances from the supporting cast, including Teyana Taylor, Laura Harrier, Vince Staples and Lance Reddick, who died last month.
The story was different from the original version which was more focused on street ball and gambling. The 2023 version had that aspect of the story, but Kamal and Anthony had bigger goals, which made it a little more interesting. The one issue with the film is while this is a remake of the original, a name change would have been more fitting. The 1992 version focused more on Harrelson’s character since he had a serious gambling problem. The 2023 version focused more on Walls’ character and his struggles following an incident in high school. Calling the new version White Men Can’t Jump is a little misleading since Jeremy isn’t the main focus despite playing a big role in the movie, but it doesn’t take away the quality of the movie.
The Hulu version doesn’t capture the same magic as the Snipes-Harrelson film. But Walls and Harlow do enough on and off the court to keep viewers interested throughout the movie. Now the question is did they do enough to take their careers to the next level?
