Movie review of Love and Basketball

(Reviewer gives it a B) Omar Epps has an alluring ability to look alert and casual in the same breath. Shifts in his deep-set eyes can alter the mood of an entire scene. Now,

Monday, April 24th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

(Reviewer gives it a B)

Omar Epps has an alluring ability to look alert and casual in the same breath. Shifts in his deep-set eyes can alter the mood of an entire scene. Now, in "Love and Basketball," he's got a silky jump shot to boot.

Mr. Epps is the best thing about this pleasant new hoops film, written and directed by newcomer Gina Prince-Bythewood. A bit overwrought and Hollywood in its reliance on the big emotional showdown, it has more than enough charm, skilled performances and appealing characters to score when it has to.

Call it a modern romance, Title IX style. Mr. Epps plays Quincy McCall, star of the Crenshaw High men's basketball team in Los Angeles. His next-door neighbor and childhood friend/rival, Monica Wright (the promising Sanaa Lathan), plays for the women's team. A self-proclaimed tomboy, Monica can still fill out a dress on senior dance night - and Quincy can notice. Soon they're in love, off to USC to star for their respective Trojan teams and endure the trials of pro basketball dreams and a big-screen love story.

Ms. Prince-Bythewood does a nice job setting up the couple's pre-romantic tensions, even when she leaves little doubt of where they're headed. Quincy can have any hoops groupie he wants, but he has taste. Monica is wed to her basketball, prompting Quincy to ask if she's going to the dance with Spaulding. Such shading and playful tension make their initial romantic rendezvous feel as nuanced as it is sudden.

Parental pressures play a part throughout, some wedged in more artfully than others. It helps that most of the guardians have varying degrees of imperfection, and that they're all played by first-rate actors. Dennis Haysbert, who shares Mr. Epps' calm sense of command, is a strong presence as Quincy's hypocritical but well-meaning NBA dad. Debbi Morgan (Eve's Bayou) is his patient mom with secrets of her own. Monica's mom (Alfre Woodard) is too domestic to please her go-getter daughter; her banker dad (Harry J. Lennix) is too underwritten to make much of an impression. The script gets a little baggy once the parallel storylines diverge; we're left with the responsibility of tracking two decent stories instead of a single compelling journey. But Ms. Prince-Bythewood shows an ear for honest dialogue, and she takes particular care in depicting the collegiate women's sports milieu. Most of the "Love and Basketball" story takes place before the WNBA was a reality, and Monica's story deftly reminds us that until recently it was Europe or nothing for the aspiring female basketball star.

"Love and Basketball," which was coproduced by Spike Lee, looks sharp on and off the court. Ms. Prince-Bythewood and cinematographer Reynaldo Villalobos deserve credit for taking unconventional approaches to otherwise ordinary scenes. When Monica bears down for the final moments of a big game, we see what she sees, hear what she thinks. When Quincy's mom finds an earring on his bed, we see an extreme closeup of the ring in her hand before zeroing in on Quincy. A former track star at UCLA, Ms. Prince-Bythewood has the game to make her name behind the camera.