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Grady Harp
, February 24, 2007
(view all comments by Grady Harp)
Streetball, Underground Money, Dreams, and Resolutions
CROSSOVER has style. Writer/director Preston A. Whitmore II makes up in visual technique and pacing what he lacks in a somewhat tired script, and simply sitting back and watching the movement for this viewer makes the movie worthwhile.
The story details the mechanisms of the underground betting on streetball in Detroit - basketball teams that that serve as betting pawns for promoters. Caught up in the flashy court skills are two close friends - Tech (Anthony Mackie), who has a crime record and dreams of plying pro-ball for the NBA, and Noah Cruise (the very fine and hunky Wesley Jonathan) whose goal is to use his streetball earnings to enter college and medical school. The friends' big rival team is headed by Jewelz (actual ball player Phillip "Hot Sauce" Champion) and the betting setups between these two rival teams strikes the flame for the action that follows. Of course there is the requisite romantic interest (both for good and bad) brought to play by fine actors Alecia Jai Fears, Shelli Boone and Eva Pigford and in the end the story is more about friendship and trust and commitment than it is about winning.
Whitmore elects to cut and splice his shots of the games like a DJ on a record spin and that aspect of the film is fascinating and creative. He also capitalizes on a fine chemistry that Anthony Mackie and Wesley Johnson generate. The plot is predictable and the story has been done before, but in the end the film satisfies because of the way it plays - and because of the choreography on the court! Grady Harp
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