I must say my feelings towards this movie gradually changed as it progressed. At first glance, it was a film that was only further damaging the stereotypes of the black community. Until about half-way through the movie, I was nearly positive I was watching a really long hip-hop video. There's definitely a good message in there if you can stomach the movie long enough to squeeze it out.
Crossover stars Tech (Anthony Mackie), one of the many underprivileged young black men playing underground street ball in Detroit for Vaughn (Wayne Brady), a retired sports journalist. In street ball, there are limited rules: no flagrant fouls, no fighting, and no arguing with the referee. If a player violates any one of these rules, that player's team immediately forfeits the game.
There are only two teams that ever play in these games: Platinum, the seemingly powerful and talented winners, and Enemy of the State, the movie's underdog team. It isn't much help that the games are always fixed by Vaughn, as he pays the referee to constantly call fouls on Enemy of the State.
The star player of Platinum, Jewelz (Philip Champion), has some serious beef with Tech and is constantly rubbing it in his face that he's the better player. This of course causes some tension on the court and is probably not helpful for Tech's game.
Tech's best friend, Noah Cruise (Wesley Jonathan), also plays on Enemy of the State, but is more interested in his basketball scholarship to UCLA where he plans on studying to become a doctor. Cruise is definitely the more talented of the two and Vaughn is constantly trying to get him to go pro as he has connections in the NBA.
When Cruise is invited to Los Angeles to take a tour of his new campus, he and Tech invite two lovely young ladies that they met at a tattoo party, Eboni (Alecia Fears) and Vanessa (Eva Pigford). While in LA, Tech shoots a commercial for some basketball gear and gets overly dramatic and violent when he learns he was merely the stunt-double for a much sexier and famous actor who doesn't even know how to play basketball.
Over dinner in a fancy restaurant, Vanessa confesses to Cruise that she's pregnant, thinking he'll go pro and they can then live comfortably as a family. Cruise is thrilled but holds true to his original plans to go to school and become a doctor. Vanessa shares some more unsettling news with Cruise once they are all back in Detroit that causes an angry motorcycle scene where Cruise inevitably ends up in the hospital, unable to play the final game between Platinum and Enemy of the State.
This last game is special, as Tech has his girlfriend bet his life savings on Enemy of the State (his team that always loses) so that they can make enough money to pay Cruise's medical bills.
Tech gives the performance of a lifetime and Vaughn offers him a chance to go pro, which is all Tech ever wanted. He declines with, by far, the most intelligent and meaningful line in the movie, "Great minds think for themselves." That single line almost made it worth my time.
First off, I would just like to say that my cheese-o-meter was going ballistic during this entire movie. I could not believe how unreal the characters and situations were, but I guess if you can't make your wildest dreams come true on film, where can you then? The corniness of the storyline and the acting might not have bothered me so much if they would have just put more basketball scenes in it. A lot of the flashy moves and trick shots they were doing were really entertaining. It was like watching Harlem Globetrotters go ghetto, and who doesn't want to see that? Nobody.
Like I mentioned before, the majority of this movie felt like a hip-hop music video complete with bling, bitches, and a few sweet moves on the court. It was right up there with a "Made for MTV" movie.
"Crossover" opens September 1, 2006 and is rated PG13. Action, Sports. Directed by Preston A Whitmore II. Written by Preston A. Whitmore II. Starring Alecia Jai Fears, Anthony Mackie, Eva Pigford, Kristen Wilson, Wayne Brady, Wesley Jonathan.
