White Men Can’t Jump Parent Guide

Kamal (Sinqua Walls) was on track to become an NBA star, until a high school incident derailed his career and tanked his confidence. Now working as a delivery driver and struggling to make ends meet, Kamal only plays basketball at the local gym with his friends. There he meets Jeremy (Jack Harlow), who was kept from the pro leagues by injuries and now uses his talents to coach young wannabes. The two decide to start hustling people in pickup games to make a little extra cash. The partnership evolves into an unlikely friendship as their games get bigger and the financial stakes higher.

I may be a 90s kid, but I never saw 1992’s White Men Can’t Jump, although its position in the cultural zeitgeist ensured that I got the gist of it. This year’s reimagining does not follow the plot line of the original, so I wouldn’t call it a remake, but it has the same basic premise, albeit modernized for 2020’s audiences.

This is a tale framed around African American experiences and culture, to a far greater extent than the 1992 version (which was written and directed by a white man). The racial and cultural point of view provided by the director and writers is apparent in the finished product. That’s not to say that people of other cultural backgrounds can’t enjoy this film, but it does have an obvious intended audience, especially with some of its specific references and jokes.

The story itself is well told and features interesting character growth and development. Kamal is a complicated and flawed person, which makes him deeply relatable. His character arc is believable and intriguing. I personally find Jeremy to be deeply unlikable. Though his character does experience some growth towards the end of the story, I don’t find it as redemptive as the movie clearly intends. The film is predictable (it is a sports flick after all), but it touches on some deeper themes around male relationships, emotional maturity, and letting go of the past, which makes it both compelling and entertaining.

Though I enjoyed the overall writing and characters, I can’t recommend this film for most audiences. There are extremely high amounts of profanity, including racial slurs and over 100 F-bombs. I do think this was done for the sake of realism rather than simply thrown in for shock value, but it is still a lot to take in. There’s also a plot point around illegal uses of painkillers and some other drug references, as well as some innuendo and fist fighting. Fans of the 1992 classic who have no qualms around negative content will probably enjoy this modernized and culturally specific reimagining, but I wouldn’t recommend viewing it with grandma, no matter how big of a Lakers fan she might be.