Spiel des Lebens (1998)

Spiel des Lebens: Directed by Spike Lee. With Denzel Washington, Ray Allen, Milla Jovovich, Rosario Dawson. A basketball player’s father must try to convince him to go to a college so he can get a shorter sentence.

“Overall this movie pretty much sucked, its kind of boring and contrary to what some people say, All-Star Ray Allen is a terrible actor and detracted a lot from the power of the movie, especially when he is paired with the awesome force of Denzel Washington. On the plus side the boy who played young Jesus Shuttlesworth was very similar to Allen… also a terrible actor. Denzel Washington is once again amazingly convincing in his role, this time as a mostly ignorant father with some intriguing wisdom who was sent to prison for accidentally killing his own wife (that scene is ridiculous, unless his wife had a completely separate unnoticed brain tumor that coincidentally hemorrhaged just as Denzel pushed her a whole two feet into the stove.) Other pluses in the movie are an amazing scene involving an agent who talks a great game and Laker Rick Fox, a much more natural actor than Allen, who makes a cameo in an amusing scene as a black college baller who likes his chocolate white. The scenes between Denzel Washington and Milla Jovovich are very nicely done (especially the work by Denzel) although it seems odd that a bum who killed his wife and a cheap tramp shacked up in a sleazy hotel would be two of the most attractive people on the planet. Unfortunately the movieu0026#39;s handful of great scenes are buried by areas of ill-conceived situations and dialogue, blaring music that is poorly chosen and a vintage Spike-Lee-totally-wacked ending.”