Love and Basketball (2000)

This film is another one that should have been better than it was.
The film is told in four acts, with the first one starting when the main characters, Monica and Quincy (Kyla Pratt and Glenndon Chatman) are just eleven years old. Quincy can't believe that a girl can play basketball, but she can and she's good. Their relationship gets off to a rough start, given that Monica won't do everything Quincy asks her to do.
Seven years later, things aren't exactly much better. Monica (now Sanaa Lathan) is driven, hard working but isn't praised on the court for her rough sportsman-like conduct while Quincy (Omar Epps) often does the same and is loved for it. But things come easily to him. He has the woman falling over him while Monica's sister, Lena (Regina Hall) has to dig up a date for her for the spring dance. Yet, they are friends. Whenever Quincy's parents argue, he will go to Monica's house (she lives next door) and sleep on her floor, something that he has done more than once.
They do get together and even go to the same college where they both place basketball and the story mostly focuses on Monica whose coach is rough and tough on her but Monica is rewarded with a starting spot halfway through the season. Quincy starts off strong but falls apart when he learns of his beloved, former NBA star father's (Dennis Haysbert) infidelity. Monica is supportive but must leave him when he is feeling low as she has a strict 11:00 pm curfew imposed by her coach. Quincy is so upset that she isn't taking his needs into consideration that he gets someone else on the side, though it isn't really that serious. Needless to say, Monica ends the relationship.
Five years later, she is playing professionally in Spain as America doesn't yet have any professional teams for woman (it is 1993) and Quincy, who entered the NBA draft against his father's wishes) is mostly warming the bench for the Los Angeles Lakers. However, neither are completely happy. Monica might love basketball but not in a foreign county without her family around playing for a coach she can't understand. So she returns home and gets an office job at her father's bank while Quincy faces months of rehab having severely injured his ACL. He is also engaged to a flighty flight attendant (Tyra Banks), which is a big shock to everyone and Monica's mother (Alfie Woodward) is against the match believing, rightfully so, that her daughter would be better than the flight attendant.
Monica decides to play Quincy one-on-one. The prize: his heart. Though Quincy does win, he can't let Monica go and we get the epilogue.
Who knows what Quincy is up to, though he did express his desire to return to school and get his degree, which would have made his father proud, but they did get married and Monica plays for the WNBA with Quincy and their young daughter supporting her in the stands.
Though the film was pretty good, it showed each main character differently, focusing more on Monica's career while focusing on Quincy's love life not his skills on the court. The issue of infidelity should have be mentioned and discussed more, as Quincy saw firsthand how devastating something like that was, as it broke up his family and ruined his relationship with his father. Monica and her mother did have a good conversation on the role's women play. Monica is often critical of her mother 'just' being a housewife while Woodward defends her choices, pleased that she was able to be around her family. That tone should have mentioned previously, not just in the last act.
Sure, the performances were good and it was realistic enough with some great typical dialogue and the film did go quickly, it didn't feel like it was two hours long. And the music was good too. It did tell a good story, I just wish it had been done better. Grade: B+