happily ever after?

So, I finished watching Love and Basketball this evening, and it turns out that I don’t actively dislike the film. I remember being underwhelmed and mildly vexed the last time I watched it, but it’s not as bad as I recall. I just don’t think the couple should necessarily end up together.

Now I understand why they do. The story narrates their journey through love and basketball from the age of 11 into adulthood, showing how the two things bond them together. The film itself has such a legacy for portraying black love, and having a narrative where the man ends up standing back and supporting his woman as she takes the limelight. However, the final gesture, where Monica challenges Quincy (Q) to a one-on-one match for his heart 2 weeks before the wedding, having just spent 5 years of their lives separated isn’t for me.

In the word’s of Quincy,

“You don’t pull this shit on some who’s about to get married.”

‘True love’ is never an excuse for infidelity. But that’s not even my main issue. After the one-on-one and reunion kiss the film cuts to Monica playing WNBA basketball with Q supporting from the stands with their daughter on their lap.

I need more information on what happens within that time jump. These two haven’t been together since college freshman year, where they were both too busy dealing with personal issues and the pursuit of success to have the capacity to be a good partner to each other. Q especially.

At the time of their reunion, Monica is working in some office job, taking a break from the game and Q is recovering from a torn ACL (the dreaded knee injury that takes all ball players, fictional and otherwise, out of the game). Q also has a whole fiancée, who he seemed perfectly content on marrying. It’s gunna take more than a single basketball match to get them out of the tangled webs that have been woven.

Like, Monica girl, I get it, you miss homeboy, but…

Something about the ending didn’t quite land for me. I didn’t need the rushed happily ever after.

I could see the compatibility between the two protagonists and understand why they would eventually reunite, but its timing and execution felt overly dramatic and the time jump was like an epilogue tagged on to prove that everything worked out just fine. Also, I couldn’t help getting second hand embarrassment from seeing Monica beg a man to play ball for his heart, and then proceed to have him dunk on her. Like girl, get up.

I would have rather the film ended with Q leaving his fiancée (or she leaving him) during his rehab. He and Monica are both trying to make sense of the potential of a world without basketball. They both bump into each other at the local court in the middle of the night, talk a few things out and then play one-on-one. The film ends with them messing around, laughing with each other on the court. Both bringing it full circle to the time of their first meeting and showing that in spite of circumstance there are two things constantly drawing them together, love and basketball.

I feel like that deserves a round of applause. Why am I not a screenwriter? That is some Academy Award level stuff right there. I’m officially making that canon in my mind. This is now how the film ends. I’ve fixed it. You are welcome.

The clip of Monica in the WNBA with Quinn and their daughter watching from the side lines can be a DVD extra.