Some
movies just don’t need to be remade, no matter how much Hollywood wants us to
believe the opposite. If the original is beloved then there is nowhere for the
quality to go than down, because we humans love our nostalgia above all else. I
never saw 1992's White Men Can’t Jump staring Wesley Snipes
and Woody Harrelson, but I can still tell you with close to one hundred percent
certainty that it wasn’t a movie that needed a facelift for 2023. I know this
simply because I know the original has its fans, and I am sure no one is going
to be a fan of this new version. Dull, led by boring and irritating characters,
and offering nothing to say about race relations beyond a few surface
observations, 2023’s White Men Can’t Jump offers a few
chuckles but is ultimately unnecessary and forgettable.
It is clear from the outset
that White Men Can’t Jump is going for broke on the whole
unlikely bromance thing that other films have done so well in the past, but it
is an attempt built on a flimsy foundation of two-dimensional characters and a
complete lack of chemistry between the two leads. Kamal (played by Sinqua
Walls) is a former high school basketball star that wants to get his former
glory back, and that’s about it. Jeremy (played by Jack Harlow) has the same
boring motivation with the added baggage of being the most stereotypical and
unlikable douche (it’s the only word that really fits, sorry!) you can think
of. They make for a thoroughly uninteresting pair, leaving the film to rely on
its equally uninteresting story and a mere handful of laughs, most of which are
provided by the tertiary friend characters Lorenzo and Speedy (Myles Bullock
and Vince Staples, respectively) who are genuinely hilarious and thoroughly
steal the show every scene they are in.
Perhaps the most frustrating part
of White Men Can’t Jump is how safe the film plays it with its
social and racial commentary. Instead of trying for something new, meaningful,
and funny, Can’t Jump is content to merely reiterate already
well-trodden material, making observations and jokes about as shallow as its
title. Even though I have never seen the original film I still felt the
distinct impression that I had seen White Men Can’t Jump already
many times before as I watched the remake. And why not just revisit one of
those films instead? Surely they at least have characters I want to root for
instead of a self-obsessed hipster and a blank slate.
White Men Can’t Jump isn’t
painful or anything, mind you. It just doesn’t do enough to justify its own
existence and instead serves as a reminder that better entertainment of this
ilk is out there. Ultimately this is just another unnecessary remake doomed to
be forgotten in the shadowy edges of the Hulu catalogue, a place very few will
ever tread and even fewer will ever watch.
White Men Can’t Jump is
now available on Hulu.
This review was first published in the Keizertimes on June 2nd, 2023. Visit at www.keizertimes.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment