Just Wright – A Basketball Cinderella Story
Out in theaters now comes this basketball-centered romantic comedy featuring Queen Latifah and Common.
Written by Michael Elliot (Like Mike, Brown Sugar), the title refers to Latifah’s character, Leslie Wright, a physical therapist and die-hard hoops fan that is simply not lucky in finding Mr. Right.
She gets the gig of a lifetime working with NBA player Scott McKnight (Common) who needs to rehab an injured leg to get back in the game in time for the playoffs. It doesn’t take long where Leslie finds herself falling for the Nets guard who is oblivious to her romantic overtures. McKnight is in fact drawn to the charms of Leslie’s beautiful childhood friend Morgan Alexander (Paula Patton). Ms. Wright has been through this before and is getting tired of the “good friend” routine, but Morgan offers no pretenses, she has her sights set on being an NBA trophy wife.
Phylicia Rashad and Pam Grier also star with Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard in a small scene off the court.
Reviews are wide ranging –
USA Today’s Claudia Puig – “In the majority of her roles, from Beauty Shop to The Secret Life of Bees, Queen Latifah comes off as wise, confident and funny. But she doesn’t seem on her game here.”
Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times – “Sure, the movie is a formula. A formula that works reminds us of why it became a formula.”
Mick LaSalle San Francisco Chronicle – “Latifah is Latifah, engaging, bright and down to earth, and this Common fellow has a presence that radiates intelligence, tact and probity. Romantic comedies are all about making you want the lead characters to get together, and in this small but fundamental way, “Just Wright” succeeds.”
Nick Schager Slant Magazine – “The big-studio romantic comedy has become so intractably set in its ways that there’s no longer hope for true innovation; competent replication of clichés is now a best-case scenario. The latest example of this is Just Wright, a functional but stolid lovey-dovey tale in which two rappers-turned-actors lend a dash of charm to flavorless fairy-tale material.”
