“He Got Game” shows that being young, gifted and Black in America is not easy. In fact, if you’re not careful, it can destroy you.

| Original Score: A | Oct 13, 2023

Transcends the usual limits of the sports drama to become an operatic tale of temptation and forgiveness.

| Sep 23, 2023

Spike Lee sports drama has strong language, violence, sex.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 15, 2020

As a director, Lee continues to hone his considerable craft and is unafraid to take creative risks along the way.

| May 3, 2019

| Original Score: B+ | Sep 7, 2011

A long, boring, meandering, dog of a movie.

| Jan 7, 2009

Lee's attack on how big business is not only ruining the game he loves but also playing with people's lives is direct and brave, while his passion, insight and intelligence are evident and admirable.

| Mar 25, 2008

Lacking the moral indignation and militant politics of Lee's former work, this vibrantly colorful father-son melodrama is soft at the center, but it's one of the most accessible films Lee has made and Denzel Washington is terrific.

Full Review | Original Score: B | Mar 25, 2008

At the end of Mr. Lee's movie, all you feel is the distraction of Mr. Lee's stylistic exhibitionism, without which, I concede, he might not be regarded as a genius in some quarters.

| Apr 27, 2007

[Lee] gets a charming performance from Allen, who, in his acting debut, occupies his pedestal with grace and diffidence.

Full Review | Mar 25, 2007

Though too long by a good half hour, Lee's latest film packs a genuine emotional punch.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Mar 25, 2007

As usual, Lee tries many kinds of stylistic effects and uses wall-to-wall music (by Aaron Copland and Public Enemy); what's different this time is how personally driven the story feels.

| Mar 25, 2007

Most scenes play too long, with a surplus of ideas, textures, tones and characters, and after 134 minutes it's clear Lee's problem with closure hasn't gone away.

| Feb 9, 2006

Lee paints intimate characters who are about more than the game. Themes of integrity, honesty, loyalty and familial love are woven through the film resulting in a complex, thought-provoking human drama.

| Original Score: B+ | Apr 9, 2005

Shrewdly exposes the underbelly of college recruiting and the pressures exerted on talented high school basketball stars.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 28, 2004

Flawed but powerful.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10 | Jun 7, 2004

It is a wonderful thing to watch two artists work so well together. I am speaking, in this case, of Spike Lee and Denzel Washington.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 8, 2003

The hypocritical misogyny of He Got Game is a fundamental weakness that reviewers so far have been happy to downplay or even to dismiss.

| Original Score: C | Jan 10, 2003

Lee should have drawn up a tighter game plan but just the same his hoops hoopla still has enough game (mostly in the form of Washington) to win over the audience.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Dec 8, 2002

As brilliant and perplexing as the filmmaker himself.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 15, 2002