In this episode of Hip Hop Movie Club, we discuss the 2010 rom-com Just Wright, starring Queen Latifah and Common. We explore five key takeaways from the film, including Queen Latifah's talent as a rapper-turned-actor.

Also check out:

Stuart Scott's cultural prominence

Credits:

Hip Hop Movie Club is produced by your HHMCs JB, BooGie, and DynoWright. Theme music by BooGie. Follow @hiphopmovieclub on Instagram!

And remember:

Don't hate...articulate!

Mentioned in this episode:

Brain Freeze Trivia

Shout to Brain Freeze Trivia in the Lehigh Valley! Follow them @brain_freeze_trivia on Instagram

(Yo!) Welcome to Hip Hop Movie Club,

2

the show that harmonizes the rhythm of hip

hop with the magic of movies.

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Today we're discussing Just Wright, a 2010

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romcom starring Queen Latifah and Common.

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We’re three old heads

who put their old heads together

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to vibe on these films for you.

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I'm DynoWright, podcaster,

filmmaker, long time

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hip hop fan, and my favorite song

with Common guesting on it

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is Respiration

from the first Black Star album.

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I’m JB, eighties and nineties

nostalgia junkie, longtime hip hop fan

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and I still marvel

at the use of the Geto Boys’

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“Damn, It Feels Good to Be a Gangsta”

in the movie Office Space.

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So good.

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I'm BooGie, a deejay, longtime

hip hop fan,

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and I have actually seen this movie

more times than I care to admit.

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In this

episode, we'll answer the question.

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Is Just Wright worth watching?

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(DJ scratch sound)

And you'll be a smarter hip hop fan.

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Five key takeaways at a time.

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Just Wright is a 2010 rom com,

which depicts a love triangle of sorts

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between a chief physical therapist,

Leslie, played by Queen Latifah,

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an NBA star played by Common and Leslie's

friend and godsister Morgan.

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(DJ scratch sound) We got five on it.

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Here are five key takeaways.

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Queen Latifah displays why she is on Mount

Rushmore of hip hop stars turned actors.

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Number two,

Common shows that he's a solid actor.

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Number three, the basketball scenes

are just mid like a mid-range jump shot.

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Number four, the plot is quite

formulaic and predictable.

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But hey, it's a rom-com.

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And number five, there are a couple

of actresses whose skills and experience

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are underutilized:

Pam Grier and Phylicia Rashad.

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All right.

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Let's talk

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about those five key takeaways

as our basis here.

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So the first one.

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Queen Latifah,

I mean, what more is there to say?

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She is on her Mount

Rushmore of hip hop stars turned actors.

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DynoWright,

you want to kick us off and talk

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about our Mount Rushmore

and why Queen Latifah is on it?

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Sure.

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We over the course of doing this podcast,

we've

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discussed in live events

and on the show here

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which of the four of the ones that

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started out as rappers and transitioned

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to acting - who were the ones that go

on the Mount Rushmore?

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And so in our discussions,

Queen Latifah came up a lot

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as someone who was successful

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rapper

and then became a successful actress.

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And she's been in

such a wide range of movies

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that a lot of success.

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So she rated for, at least for me,

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at least in the top four.

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Definitely.

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BooGie, you're a huge Queen Latifah fan

and she's from your hometown.

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What do you got to say about the Queen?

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Yeah, I mean, I have I mean, I have an

unconditional love for the Queen,

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but that bias has nothing to do with

why she's on our Mount Rushmore.

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I mean, she's a complete force

to be reckoned with.

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She delivers in this movie.

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She gives you all of the emotions.

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She comes across

as someone who's very likable.

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You want to root for throughout the movie.

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She's like a very genuine person.

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Everything that she does in this.

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film is something that's

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almost she's doing everything

for everyone else.

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And in the course of doing that,

you're like, Well, what about you?

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What about you?

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Then when things finally start going

well for her, you’re happy

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because of the way she portrayed

the Leslie character in this film.

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It's,

you know, I can go on, but I don't know.

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I don't want to bore the listeners.

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To coin a phrase that DynoWright uses.

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She eats up scenes

like she's just so real and natural

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from the camera and she can do it all.

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And she portrayed that in this movie

as well.

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DynoWright, have anything else to add on

Queen Latifah?

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I'll add that

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she's talented rapping, of course.

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It's funny.

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I talk to people sometimes younger folks.

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Nothing wrong with being younger,

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but they don't realize

that she started out as a rapper.

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Think, man,

there's a whole career you've missed.

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Yes. Which is just as good as her acting

career and also a talented singer.

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So there's three major talents

that she has.

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I've said this before, too,

but she's also great.

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And Last Holiday with L.L. Cool J

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and Stranger

Than Fiction with Will Ferrell, she

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plays a literary agent

in a supporting role

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to Emma Thompson

and she's terrific in that, too.

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I don't think I've ever seen a movie

that she wasn't good in.

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Yeah,

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I love Last Holiday.

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It's a great movie.

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I watched it a lot, too.

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It's one of my wife's favorites.

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But the other rapper turned

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actor

that is featured in this film is Common.

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So Common.

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Number two, Take away Common proves

that he's a solid actor in his own right.

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BooGie, what do you have to say

about Common's performance here?

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And how does he show that he's solid?

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Yeah, I mean, Common, he definitely shows

he's a solid actor in this movie.

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I love seeing Common on screen.

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There's something about the way he comes

across as a very genuine person,

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and I've seen him play different roles

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in his career.

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But in this particular movie,

he comes across as a genuinely nice guy

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and I feel almost too nice,

almost unbelievably nice,

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and to be in a film with the veteran

Queen Latifah,

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who's on

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Mount Rushmore,

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to be on a film with Queen Latifah

to who's on Mount Rushmore,

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he holds his own and the chemistry is

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definitely there and he's very believable.

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And you want to almost see them together

because of the way the interactions are.

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Even when it wasn't apparent that

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they were a couple, he was just like,

you know, being friendly.

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But you could definitely see that

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he was he was put his all into

the portrayal of Scott McKnight.

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And I think that he

was very good in this role.

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I agree.

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I found Common's character,

Scott McKnight, a super likable,

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very charismatic.

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Like you said, I thought he was too nice,

like an NBA star.

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Could they really be that nice,

especially a two time league MVP?

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Normally, they they have that edge.

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But maybe Steph Curry, somebody like that.

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But but no one else.

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It was just so nice.

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And he could see through

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the shallowness of someone like Morgan.

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DynoWright, anything to add on Common?

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Just to say that this is his first lead

role in a feature film.

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And by that point,

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Queen

Latifah has been in a lot of other things.

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So to hold his own against

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someone who's more experienced,

like Queen Latifah, he did really well.

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Yeah.

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(DJ scratch sound) Takeaway number three.

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The basketball scenes in this movie.

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I think they're just mid

like a mid-range jump shot.

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Just mid. Okay,

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so there's NBA footage in here or,

you know, supposed to be

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you know, it's

obviously a work of fiction.

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But I'll kick this off here

where I was thinking that

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man McKnight only had a couple of moves

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it's got of like a fake left.

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And roll what?

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Roll to the right.

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Hit a jumper or easy dunk.

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And I also thought that the game winning

three

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pointer buzzer beater

to to win the Eastern Conference

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finals was a little anticlimactic

the way that it was filmed.

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So if you're looking for wow,

I want to see a lot of NBA action,

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you're not going to see the type of action

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and the amount of action

you see in something like Above the Rim.

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So to me,

that took away a little bit from the film.

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Boogie, what's your take

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on the basketball scenes?

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yeah.

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I mean, the basketball,

I totally agree with you.

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With the best of the basketball season.

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What I do like about the film, though,

is that they actually did have some

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some key cameos from some actual players

and commentators

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in people

who just generally are around the game.

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So that made it'll be interesting.

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I love seeing

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Dwight Howard coming across Mr.

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Goofy Man.

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He’s just a funny guy.

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I mean, I love

I love seeing at the scenes with him

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because he's just so, just, just tall

and goofy acting but phenomenal player.

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But I mean, I see the interaction

between this

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like a friendly rivalry

between Scott and Dwayne Wade.

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You see where Rashard Lewis,

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you know,

Rajon Rondo was in there as well.

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Then we see that Rod Thorn I'm like,

Wow, they brought the big guns!

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You know?

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And so we stuff like that.

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It also

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part of Scott's upbringing.

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Well,

throughout his career, young and younger

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as he was a younger player,

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was he

he actually used to play at the Rucker

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and during his to his rehabilitation,

there's a scene where

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Leslie takes him

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back to the Rucker,

just kind of get him back to his roots

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and let him know that, hey, listen,

you're going through something, but

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look at these kids.

These kids still love you.

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They still appreciate you.

They still want to see you play.

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So you have them looking up to you.

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So, you know, let's push forward.

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So those aspects of the movie

in connection with basketball,

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I really enjoyed.

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But I do agree that

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that that the moves were

were they definitely weren't

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becoming of an

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NBA player

I mean he could actually play ball

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but there’s a difference in playing ball

and playing at the NBA level

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and you can definitely see the difference

in his movements

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as he's, you know,

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dribbling up the court and doing it,

you know, trying to crossover, etc..

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And yeah, that

that the best shot they could have.

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I wish they would have shot that

from a different angle, like maybe like,

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you know, slow motion or somebody with a

hand in his face or something like that.

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You got D-Wade playing D on you.

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D-Wade is not going to leave

you open for a shot like that.

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He’ll at least put his hands in your face.

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You might get fouled or something

like that would be cool or something.

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But yeah,

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I definitely agree with you on those ones.

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Good takes, BooGie.

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DynoWright, what are your

takes on the basketball scenes?

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I thought the scenes up until the game

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seven sequence were okay,

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the game seven sequences were not okay

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It was very perfunctory

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and just kind of shot

without any drama to them.

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But again, this is a romantic film,

not a basketball film or even a drama.

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So you sort of cut corners there

where you can and you sort of

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get to the point like you won the game.

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But other than that, I think

the basketball scenes were just all right.

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I think I had more fun

seeing the cameos and,

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you know,

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other figures in the basketball world,

like commentators,

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like I'm here for all the Mike Fratello

I can get.

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The Czar!

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Yeah, and Marv Albert. But

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yeah,

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like I said, I couldn't

get over the anticlimactic nature of that.

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It was no like confetti,

no huge celebration.

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It was almost like a game that happened

in midseason, a buzzer beater.

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It wasn't

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quite the pomp and circumstance

that I would have expected.

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Yeah. To go to the finals game.

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That's huge at home

yep And it really should have erupted.

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Yeah especially the hero

that had rehabbed all this time

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and he's like the Willis Reed moment

you know kind of

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Yeah.

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They should be carrying him off.

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Yeah.

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Court Yeah, yeah.

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They built up to that

and they didn't, they didn't pay it off.

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Didn’t pay it off, right.

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(DJ scratch sound) To be quite blunt,

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the plot itself is quite formulaic

and predictable.

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But hey, it's a romcom

and that's the nature of a rom com. So

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that's

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one thing to point out here

as our fourth takeaway.

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BooGIe,

you want to speak on that aspect of it.

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Yeah.

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I mean some rom com, you know,

what can we say.

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Right.

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But you know that the two of them

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are going to end up together

if you've seen the movie poster,

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I mean, as was the case with most

rom coms, that journey has a few twists

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and turns I won’t

really go get too much into all of them.

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But I mean, even not being a rom

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com junkie of sorts, I do enjoy

watching this movie every now and then.

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They, like I said,

I do love the chemistry between

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Queen Latifah and Common

when they were in the scenes together.

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And she's like, you know,

they're two of my favorite emcees

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and you just see them together acting.

This is pretty cool.

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But yeah, you're not going to get

a cinematic masterpiece out of this one

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DynoWright?

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What are your thoughts?

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Yeah, if you're hoping for something

innovative, just keep it moving.

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Yeah, I mean,

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not to give away the whole plot,

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but you can see the way it's going.

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You know,

you have the overzealous shallow friend

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who is literally devoted her life to marry

NBA star and living that lifestyle.

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And you have the other friend

who is your down home real one

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who has bad luck in the dating scene.

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And by the way, she's a physical therapist

and there’s an NBA star.

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I could have predicted right away

that, you know, he's going to get hurt.

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You know, he's going to rehab

rehab with her.

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And, you know, there'll be some sparks.

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You know how it's going to go.

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So but again, it doesn't mean -

just throw away the movie.

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But like, if you want on a cold winter

day, you know,

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you want a cute story

with some real legends in the cast.

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You know, Queen Latifah,

Common, Pam Grier, Phylicia Rashad.

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I would say

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it's like watching a sitcom episodes

innocuous, lighthearted,

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generally lighthearted, fun,

but very little suspense.

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Yeah,

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cuddle up and get some popcorn

and then just get it, get a go,

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you know, just watch something.

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Yeah, exactly.

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Yeah, yeah.

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Final takeaway.

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Fifth takeaway is

we feel that there were a couple actresses

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cast in this film

whose skills and experience

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were underutilized,

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specifically Pam Grier and Phylicia Rashad

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Boogie.

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What do you what do you say to that?

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Yeah,

I mean, you have Pam Grier, the legend,

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legendary actress Pam Grier, who's

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just she's all she's

almost a larger than life figure, just,

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you know, just saying her name

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and just seeing her presence on

screen is just like, wow.

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And then you have Phylicia Rashad,

who was one time one of America's

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favorite moms, played Clair Huxtable,

like raised like a nation of

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millions under her tutelage and like,

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you don't see much of them,

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which is a little disappointing.

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And I would have loved to see

a little more of Pam Grier,

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this character playing

Leslie Wright’s mother, and like

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there were some instances when, you know,

you see Phylicia Rashad,

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you do see a little slight

bit of the Clair Huxtable over there.

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But like that is much like, well,

with the with the Morgan character,

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I would have liked to see her

kind of tighten Morgan up a little bit,

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like she used to get on Elvin in the show,

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but she didn't

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get a chance to,

that would have been Pretty cool to see.

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But but yeah, I think that we could have

probably utilized them

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a little bit more

for their legendary you know, skill set.

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Yeah.

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I want to see Pam Grier a little bit

more like Jackie Brown.

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When Quentin Tarantino

brought her back for Jackie Brown.

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I was like, Yes, Pam Grier's

back in the spotlight and she's amazing.

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Like, you know,

she you know, all those great movies

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back in the seventies and

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it was kind of

like a more of a nondescript role.

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She was the mother.

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She was there and supportive

but underutilized.

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What do you think, DynoWright?

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I agree.

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I really think

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they've basically just had Clair Huxtable

play this role

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because, you know, she

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she kept Leslie honest

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like like she would any of the Huxtable

kids.

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And, you know, there's there's more

you could have done with that

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and is there more you could have done

with the star of a Pam Grier’s stature?

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I mean, that role was really underused,

I thought.

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I think we did see we got to we saw

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Phylicia Rashad as as

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Scott McKnight's mother some.

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But really,

you could have done more with her.

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But yeah,

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yeah.

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You'd hope for more.

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Yeah, I agree.

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I did like the role of

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Mrs..

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I'm sorry, Mr. Wright.

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Lloyd Wright, played by James Pickens Jr.

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He was very likable

as the father, as Queen Latifah's father.

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Yes. Yeah.

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Yeah.

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He was like a foundation piece for her.

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Someone very supportive. Pam

Grier was too.

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But I think she really leaned,

Leslie really leaned on her dad

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for the moral strength.

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You could have had more from Pam

Grier, could have asked more of her.

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She was clearly a daddy's girl.

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Yeah.

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You see him

constantly in the house that she really

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she just

purchased a home and he's over there

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constantly doing little work projects

around the house,

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like unprompted.

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He's just there all the time

doing something on the house. Yeah.

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And even when

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Leslie first meets Scott

and he's invited to the party

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in Scott's house, you know,

he said, Here, take.

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Take the keys to my car, give you the keys

to the deuce and a quarter.

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When, you know, things don't look

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like they're going to go too

well between Leslie and Scott,

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he was very vocal in saying,

hey, you know,

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if he doesn't want you,

you know, it's his mistake.

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You know, you're you're a good person.

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Just kind of constantly uplifted her.

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Definitely a great, great father

figure, the portrayal on film.

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Yeah.

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But going back to the sports

cameos, I'd be remiss

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if I didn't mention the late

great Stuart Scott, the former ESPN

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icon,

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great interview that he had with Scott

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McKnight and

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the moment where Scott realizes

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how impactful Leslie was in his comeback

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and he actually leaves the set

after the emotional interview.

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I need to go somewhere, you know,

he has to go meet up with her.

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And I think because he had the contract,

his contract was coming up

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and he was deciding whether to go to

Philly or stay in in the Nets job.

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And it came out around the same time

that she had the offer from multiple teams

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to be the physical therapist

or the trainer.

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So the athletic trainer. So yeah,

394

it was great to see Stuart Scott. He

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he really lived and breathed hip hop

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and infused sports

and hip hop so well that

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he made it

so enjoyable to watch SportsCenter.

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Yeah, we miss him.

399

Yeah, he he was the one that got me

hooked on SportsCenter

400

and I would watch it every day

401

just to see what he was going to say next.

402

I'm like,

All right, we're just going to say

403

now, what is he gonna say

now, what’s he gonna say now?

404

Yeah, it was just such an amazing

405

commentator in

I mean, I think it's so it's so good

406

that the scene where Scott

finally came to realization that he wanted

407

wanted to be with Leslie

was when he was, with Stu Scott.

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And it was just very emotional.

409

Every time I see that scene you know,

I choke up a little bit because

410

of my affinity for Stu Scott

and how much, you know,

411

I enjoyed watching him and just to see him

in that few minute portrayal.

412

Yeah, that was a highlight.

413

We should maybe put in the show notes

like a YouTube clip, if we can find of

414

some of Stuart Scott's hip hop references,

because I always look (that exists).

415

Yeah.

416

There's got to be one

with a bunch of them in it.

417

I’m sure that exists.

418

Because

419

that's my Venn

diagram is sports and the hip hop.

420

And he, he was at the center of that

and I see some of the guys

421

carry that on a little bit

like Scott Van Pelt and a few other guys.

422

Scott Van Pelt

did a great tribute to Phife Dawg

423

when he passed away

and I really enjoyed that.

424

And again, sports and hip hop

425

have a unique relationship

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and Stuart Scott epitomized that.

427

He was like

428

he was like the prototype like he was like

he was he

429

busted the gate open,

and everybody was like wow.

430

We could actually do that?

431

Yeah.

432

yeah.

433

He just kicked the door open.

434

Yeah,

435

definitely. Yeah.

436

All right.

437

So we have our five key takeaways

that we hit you guys with at this point.

438

Why don't we go around and rate the movie

and answer the question

439

from the beginning of the episode:

is Just Wright worth watching?

440

Boogie, would you say for this movie?

441

I guess bring that funky flick back,

442

bring that funky flick back

or leave it in the vault?

443

Is this movie worth watching?

444

Yeah, I mean, I've I've.

445

I've watched it more times

than I can count, so I'm going to just

446

keep bringing that funky flick back

because it's it's formulated,

447

but I definitely enjoy watching it.

448

All right.

449

DynoWright, put you on the spot.

450

Bring that funky flick back

or leave it in the vault?

451

Was this movie worth watching?

452

I was going back and forth on this.

453

I will bring this funky flick back.

454

It's a cute movie.

455

It's got some stargazing for the

456

20 tens, and

457

it's got The Czar, Mike Fratello in it.

458

It's good enough for me, so

459

it's definitely worth watching.

460

Just for Queen Latifah

and Common, terrific performances.

461

Queen Latifah is never not good in a movie

she's in.

462

I will also say

bring this funky flick back.

463

It would not be in the top

464

echelon of hip hop themed movies,

but to your point, to both your points,

465

you know, legends in this Common,

Queen Latifah,

466

Pam Grier, Phylicia Rashad

467

and Stuart Scott and the cameos, Dwight

Howard, Dwayne Wade, etc., etc..

468

So yeah, stargazing, it’s

469

historical folks in this film

470

that you should check out.

471

Bring it! C’mon!

472

Bring it!

473

C’mon!

474

Hip Hop Movie Club is produced by your

HH emcees JB, BooGie and DynoWright.

475

Theme music by Boogie.

476

We got a bunch of live events

477

you can learn more at our website:

HipHopMovieClub.com.

478

Come hang with us!

479

And whether you're listening

to the podcast or watching us on YouTube,

480

we appreciate you.

481

Thanks for tuning in.

482

Remember, don't hate.

483

Initiate.

484

Initiate.

485

Take that step, make that move.

486

The first step is the hardest.