Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

Bereamic Awesome Movie

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Michael_Elliott Above the Rim (1994) ** (out of 4)Kyle (Duane Martin) is an intelligent black kid who is growing up in a rough neighborhood but he might have a way out when he gets some interest from various college scouts. Kyle's friend gets him involved with a drug dealer named Birdie (Tupac Shakur) who offers him some great stuff but he doesn't realize what might be connected to it.When you look back at the early 90s, Hollywood was cranking out a lot of urban dramas thanks in large part to the sucess of BOYZ N THE HOOD. These urban dramas look at a variety of situations so it was only a matter of time before the basketball courts became the plot and the end result is ABOVE THE RIM.I don't think there's any doubt that the filmmakers had their hearts in the right place but the movie just doesn't work as well as it should have. The biggest problem is that there's really nothing new here. You've got a smart kid who isn't bright enough to see why he shouldn't be connected to this drug dealer. You've got the bright kid who is also a whiz at basketball, which is going to attrack sharks because of the money aspect.All of this is told is a familiar fashion and what's worse is the fact that it doesn't throw us any surprises or anything else for that matter. The film and the characters basically play out as you'd expect them to so there's really nothing here that keeps the drama up.The one saving grace are the performances, which include nice work from Martin, Leon and Marlon Wayans. You've also got a nice performance from Bernie Mac in a supporting bit. The film belongs to Shakur, however, you once again showed what a major talent he was in the acting field.

darkchaoschao This movie revolved around two people, a kid in high school who's dream is to play in the NCAA for the Georgetown Hoyas, and an older adult who was on his way to the NBA, but now refuses to pick up a basketball and is in deep depression due to a past event (that you will see right at the beginning of the movie). I thought this was a great movie. It didn't lack substance, and throughout the whole movie, there is a lot going on... but everything pieces itself together at the end.I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes basketball, dramas or 'hoodtales.

p-stepien Kyle Lee Watson (Duane Martin) is the star basketball player at his high school, but his overly developed ego limits him from reaching his full potential. However via trials and tribulations he slowly starts finding the right path, in some part thanks to an unwilling mentor in the form of the school security guard Shep (Leon), who used to be NBA material, until one day tragically (and unintentionally comically) his best friend plummets to his death after trying to dunk. His brother on the other hand is local badboy Birdie (Tupac Shakur), who took to crime after Shep bailed out on the family.Despite B-movie credentials the presence of Tupac Shakur seems to have torpedoed the popularity of "Above the Rim". The story however remains derivative throughout, whilst the secondary plot is more than a tad schmaltzy, thrown in for good measure to introduce a father figure for Kyle. In addition to that the director Jeff Pollack goes extremely by the book, avoiding any turns or twists. Keeping it simple doesn't however work, as the resulting story is plot-thin and scarce of emotion. Once it gets to the ultimate and predictable show-down no connection has really been created between the viewers and the characters, hence no real enjoyment in watching this purposeless flick.Some key scenes are plain funny, unwillingly drawing a smirk to your face, while certain situations are blunderingly solved with disregard to logic and reason.

sauce986 ...in that it isn't complete crap. Duane Martin does a nice job of portraying Kyle Lee Watson, a highly recruited high school basketball player, and Tupac Shakur (as Birdie) is as stellar as he always was. Leon's performance could have been more, though. The plot was realistic, showing just how difficult that situation is for many young basketball players today. Bernie Mack's small role is a memorable one. But of course, Marlon Wayans is in it, so that brings the film down a notch or four. The end basketball sequence is a very good one, having many actual New York City Playground Legends come in and just show their stuff for the movie. Duane Martin's a very nice player in his own right, having actually had a tryout with the New York Knicks at one point. I don't think he ever hit a game winner for Georgetown, though.Overall - 6/10