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Overrated

Absolutely the worst movie.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

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.

The film, Above The Rim is no Star Wars, It's just a darker version of "White Men Can't Jump" with more creativity on the well developed basketball dribbling and dunks visuals. It's a must see for any sport/rap fan with the best soundtrack - thanks to Tupac Actor/Rapper dropping monster rhymes. The plot is a little light, but can't we all understand that we are not watching this movie for the plot but for the action. The basketball and music culture of America is superbly linked into the grim, street culture of the ghetto. The subtle use of basketball as a view into the street culture of America, is unique and original to this movie. This movies is a must for all DVD collections and deserves a 10. Thank You.

This movie is definitely a memorable hood movie, don't know why it's not up their with the others. The thing that stood out the most in this movie was that it is not a basketball movie. It's a hood movie. I was expecting it to be a basketball movie set that just happens to be in the hood, but no. Still, it's got a lot of action packed exciting basketball scenes in it. While it's not a basketball movie, any fan of basketball should enjoy it.Overall it's a good movie. Should be a good watch for fans of hood movies, fans of basketball, or both.

I bought the DVD of Above the Rim at my local Video Store when they were having a going out of business sale. I primarily bought it to see Tupac's acting since I've been a fan of his music. I watched this movie while working out on the treadmill, and it's great for that.Tupac's performance wasn't quite up to what I expected, I'm sorry to say. Perhaps I would have felt differently if I had seen the movie at the time of its original release, or at least before seeing the wonderful Tupac Resurrection. But the other actors are fine and somewhere in this basketball picture is a subplot that "has a heart". It's several steps above your typical "teenage hood" movie, and a solid 7. I also appreciated the DVD's "English Subtitiles". I wish that they could be made standard. (You appreciate it when you want to workout at midnight and watch a DVD when others want to sleep!)