White Men Can’t Jump

Directed by Ron Shelton, White Men Can’t Jump follows street basketball players Sidney Deane (Wesley Snipes) and Billy Hoyle (Woody Harrelson) as they reluctantly team up to hustle a series of fellow players. Filmmaker Shelton, working from his own screenplay, delivers a mostly entertaining comedy that receives plenty of mileage out of the stellar work of its stars, as both Snipes and Harrelson inhabit their respective characters to a degree that remains completely captivating from start to finish (and it doesn’t hurt, either, that there’s a palpable chemistry between the two men) – with the impact and effectiveness of the actors’ efforts heightened by dialogue that is, for the most part, funny and compelling. (The often hilarious insults tossed casually between players remains a highlight within the proceedings, for sure.) And although Shelton has peppered the picture with several standout sequences, White Men Can’t Jump admittedly does suffer from a distinctly overlong running time that paves the way for a midsection and second half that’s perhaps not quite as taut or streamlined as one might’ve preferred (eg the Jeopardy! subplot involving Billy’s girlfriend, Rosie Perez’s Gloria, is amusing yet entirely disposable) – with the final result a compulsively watchable (albeit undeniably erratic) endeavor that’s at its best when focused on its protagonists’ easy-going exploits.

*** out of ****