I am not a basketball fan. Instead, I am an oddball..a bad movie buff. While I do NOT watch a steady diet of lousy pictures, every so often I watch some god-awful movies. I have seen all 50 bad films from Harry Medved's great book "The Fifty Worst Films of All Time" as well as 96 of the current Bottom 100 on IMDB. And, while "Blue Chips" is not on any of these bad films list it has something which does interest me....Shaquille O'Neal. While he seems like a nice guy in real life, Shaquille has a long, sorry track record of incredibly bad films....such as "Kazaam", "Steel" , "Jack and Jill", "Scary Movie IV" and "Freddy Got FIngered". In fact, while I don't blame him completely, as he's first and foremost a basketball star, few, if any, can match his sad record in films.
In this basketball flick, in addition to O'Neal, you've got some other huge stars...Penny Hardaway, Marques Johnson and an older basketball great, Bob Cousy (who STILL is a great shot even at his age). In small roles are Jerry Tarkanian, Larry Bird, Bobby Knight and a few others. This is reason enough to see this movie....as well as to watch Nick Nolte play an interesting role as a college basketball coach...and it's one of Nolte's best performances.
So why, in particular, is Coach Bell (Nolte) so angry and upset this particular season? Well, for the first time ever he's in danger of coaching a team with a losing record. Sick of seeing the best recruits going to other college programs, Bell is intent on bringing in some new and very talented blood into the program. Much of the film consists of him traveling the country, interviewing prospects and doing everything he can to hook them for his team. The problem is that there is a LOT of pressure for him to cheat and bend the rules....as it seems like everybody is doing it to get the best recruits.
The film is an excellent case study of the ugly side of college sports. And, as the film seems to say, 'everybody's doing it'....which seems likely. I appreciated this plot very much...and Nick Nolte really blew me away with his acting. He was clearly at his best here. Also, it was nice to see Shaquille O'Neal...his acting seemed natural and likable. Overall, a surprisingly good film that exceeded my expectations....and I am not sure why it only has an overall score of 6.2 at this time.
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