He Got Game

He Got Game is a 1998 drama-sports film directed by Spike Lee starring Denzel Washington and Ray Allen as a father and son trying to reconcile on the eve of the son's graduation from a Coney Island high school, and under pressure to decide which college basketball scholarship offer he will accept.

Plot summary

Allen's character, named Jesus Shuttlesworth, is an extremely talented basketball player being pursued by the top college programs in the nation. Washington's character is a convicted felon who is temporarily released by the governor, an influential alum of one of the colleges Jesus is considering, so that he might direct his son to sign with the governor's college.

He Got Game offers emotional looks into the varied topics of basketball (including urban dreams of professional success), the dynamics of the father-son relationship, the effects on young black men of growing up with absent fathers or parents, and the moral dilemma of choosing between material gain and the 'right' thing to do.

The film features cameos by several well known basketball players, coaches, and announcers. It opened to mostly mixed reviews.

Box office

He Got Game was produced on an estimated $25,000,000 budget. In the opening weekend of its release, it was shown on 1,319 screens, and took in $7,610,663 at the U.S. box offices. It would eventually gross a total of $21,554,585.