Love & Basketball (2000) – Movie Review

Movie Review • Looking back when Love & Basketball came out, it was the hottest movie in the black household, especially if you were a basketball player. Everyone wanted that Quincy & Monica love as teenagers, but now that our generation has grown I think some of us have realized their love story wasn’t what we made it out to be. 

There is no doubt that Love & Basketball is a classic. I was 10 when this movie premiered & basketball was the love of my life. I just knew that me & one of our star players would be Quincy & Monica when we made it to high school. Long story short, I never dated an actual ball player & my Love & Basketball fairytale never came true. Looking back, I am grateful that it didn’t. Monica & Quincy’s relationship was chaotic, especially once they made it to college.

Everything was cool until that ONE night she had to make curfew & he wanted her to stay with him. I get it, you want your woman to be there for you, which she was at the time but he wanted her there the whole night. It would have been different if she was leaving him to go kick it with friends, but curfew was very important for athletes in college especially the night before a game. He should have been understanding especially knowing how rough things were going with her & the team. Quincy was an only child so I’m sure he was used to everything going his way, especially having a NBA dad. I don’t think he was used to hearing “no”. 

We all know how Q dealt with his issues and he took it out on Monica & started messing with other women & drinking. If that’s not toxic & chaotic, I don’t know what is. Fast forward, they’ve broken up & she’s playing overseas while he’s in the league & newly engaged. Chile, that second half of the movie was just an emotional rollercoaster for Monica & Quincy. He was dealing with family issues & an injury while she’s dealing with heartbreak. At the end, they did end up together but that playing one on one for his heart was emotional. Soon as Meshell Ndegeocello “Fool of Me” started playing, we already knew it wasn’t looking too good for Monica. Quincy knew his heart really belonged to her so he hit her with that “double or nothing.”

I’ve always thought Sanaa & Omar had great chemistry in this movie. Then I found out they started dating right before filming & it all made sense. They were out there playing for each others love forreal. Love & Basketball was a cute love story in the beginning but it became unnecessarily toxic as the movie progressed. If I have to go through all that for someone’s heart, I don’t want it lol! 

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