Love & Basketball

This is Prince-Bythewood's first feature film as both a writer and director, and she shows admirable command of her craft.

he relationship between Monica and Quincy is a treat, making this a great date movie.

Gina Prince-Bythewood has taken the conventional coming-of-age romance genre and invigorated it with such vivid characters and such alertness to the culture she's representing, that she makes what might have been derivative into something brand new.

Too often dismissed as a soppy chick flick, the film is a drama that is clear-eyed and serious about female ambition and gender roles.

[It] wrestles with complicated issues of love and friendship, competitiveness and gender identity...

Told largely from the point of view of the woman, this career-versus-love story still develops the perspective of the man persuasively, as Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps reveal their characters' motives with nuances of expression that transcend the dialogue.

Love & Basketball transcends the simplicity of just alienation, as it reaches for romantic equality and miraculously achieves it.

If the romantic complications follow a familiar game plan, the film throws a fascinating spotlight onto the contrast between men’s and women’s basketball.

Gina Prince-Bythewood wrote and directed this love story starring Omar Epps and Sanaa Lathan is about kindling a relationship amongst their affection for the sport both of them excel at which keeps them bound with daily pressures...

This 2000 sports drama, a veritable slam dunk of filmmaking, proves that a genre often written off as banal can appeal to everybody.