The Mother and White Men Can’t Jump – Movie Reviews

Not a lot to say with the 2023 Niki Caro action-adventure. Prior to watching, I knew The Mother just will not be going to be the movie for me. Netflix Original Action movies have been regressing in quality in recent years, and without a reliable filmmaker, it’s hard to see myself being interested in what the action flick has (or rather doesn’t have) to offer.

I believe Jennifer Lopez is a suitable choice for the film at hand, but her role doesn’t bring anything unique that couldn’t be done by any other actress. While she fits the part adequately, she didn’t leave a lasting impression on me, unfortunately. The remaining cast members range from satisfactory to forgettable, with the notable exception of Paul Raci. It’s pleasing to see him getting more opportunities after his remarkable performance in Sound of Metal, although I believe he deserved even better in this particular film.

In terms of action, The Mother is competently made. The editing is decent, and the pacing is fine. However, in an era where streaming platforms are flooded with action movies, this film fails to bring anything new or innovative to the genre. It lacks creative camerawork or stunning visuals. While I didn’t have high expectations in that regard, considering the director’s previous work on the live-action Mulan, this film lacks even less personality than that.

The story, written by Misha Green, itself is incredibly generic, feeling cliché right from the very beginning, which made it quite painful to watch. The dynamic involving the child became annoying over time and eventually lost my interest. The Mother starts with some promising elements but steadily declines as it progresses. “A Generic Action Flick!”

‘Netflix’s The Mother’ Rating – 2/5

Follow Billy (the Author) on IG – @teen.reviews.movies

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White Men Can’t Jump is a remake of the 1992 basketball movie of the same name about an unlikely basketball duo teaming up to make money. Starting with the positives, I didn’t expect Jack Harlow to be good in this movie. A sign of my age that I am not really familiar of Harlow’s music but do know of him. When I saw he was one of the leads, I was worried about what we would get. He’s awkward on camera but it works well as the Jeremy character getting into people’s minds.

Furthermore, maybe this is more of a continuation of the Jeremy character. There are some honestly funny moments on the basketball courts that made aspects fun to watch. The other lead character Kamal played by Sinqua Walls had more backstory in this film which helps to build more layers to the character. As much I wanted him to be like the Snipes hustler, I conceded that this worked well.

On to the negatives, The biggest problem with White Men Can’t Jump, is that if you know anything about the original and expect that, you will be thoroughly disappointed. This might use the template of the original but comes nowhere close to what it was. I wanted a darker movie at first and was given a very bright, lighter feeling movie.

Another issue I had with this movie was with the hustle scenes. Yes you had the two leads going around to hustle money, but some of the games ended up being 3 on 3 or 5 on 5 games. I don’t get why they did this and didn’t stick with the 2 vs 2 games the whole time. Are they splitting the money 3 or 5 ways? The basketball games itself were just okay, but lacked any wow factor like the original.

Even in the original you could tell that Snipes wasn’t good at playing hoops but they still made the scenes, shots and plays feel super cool. This movie felt like they were just going through the motions without really focusing on the scenes. I struggled on how to really rate White Men Can’t Jump. I wish that it was not a remake of the original 90s version and was just a basketball movie about this unlikely duo.

I would have really enjoyed it a lot more, rather than just mentally comparing the two for the majority of the movie. Harlow was a pleasant surprise and there are some fun aspects. If you know the original, try to not compare, but if you don’t, there are some good enough moments. It’s not a super well made movie but it isn’t a bad movie to stream. “A Weirdly Watchable!” but worse if you love the original.

‘White Men Can’t Jump’ Rating – 3/5

Follow Bobby (the Author) on IG – @mmreview

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