User reviews

When i read some of comments that have been posted on this movie i felt as though something was missing. Someone needed to comment on this film who was actually a part of the culture that is being shown in this film. I am a black male who went to see this movie the weekend that it was released. As far as the hood is concerned, this is a classic movie. The cast was perfect, especially for the time of it's release. It was a movie set in the East Coast, but Tupac was a stand out star, and the entire soundtrack was done by Death Row. Shakur gave a great performance through out, along with Dwayne Martin. Leon was also featured in another film celebrated by the black community more than anywhere else, The Five Heartbeats. Not to mention Marlon Wayans doing what he always does. Wood Harris, who later goes on to "The Wire" fame, portrays a very aggressive character. The comedic legend Bernie Mac is featured in a good role also. I know that movies aren't black or white. They are just movies, but it is evident that there are a slew of movies that are celebrated a lot more in the black community than anywhere else. Menace II Society, Juice, New Jersey Drive, Above the Rim, Belly, Paid in Full, and this film are "Hood" classics. If you want to even begin to understand the logic behind some of the themes of this genre, then this is a very good movie to start with.

What a cast - and even the ones you may not expect to like as much do a really good job. So maybe the Wayans in here is nothing more than ... what he is in reality, but he also proved with Darren Arronofsky that he can actually act - I sometimes wonder why he never took that route. But another actor in this never had the chance to go any route ... and Tupac Shakur shows that he is or could have been quite the good actor.

Overall the story is quite predictable and it is the actors that make this something that may seem more than worthwhile. Not sure about all the basketball scenes in this, but they are more than decent enough to keep you interested and on the edge of your seat.

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.

This movie deserves more credit then critics should give. This movie had an all star cast as the up and coming Marlon Wayans,Tupac Shakur,Leon,Duane Martin,Henry Simmons,Bernie Mac,and the lovely Tonya Pinkins. Each actor played their part magnificiently and it was hip,touching,and realistic. The beginning was a little off when Leon dreamed of his best friend's death and then focused mainly on Duane Martin's basketball skills,and him trying to get into Georgetown University. Marlon Wayans was the comic relief in the film who's been released from prison. Bernie Mac was the homeless man who was interested in basketball but never made it. Tupac was the ruthless street hustler and the coach of a dirty playing basketball team. There were other former R&B stars who starred in the movie but only had small parts. To wrap it up in a nutshell Above the rim to me is one of the most memorable urban basketball movies I've ever saw.

Kyle Lee Watson is a cocky high school basketball star. Bugaloo (Marlon Wayans) is his loudmouth friend. Flip Johnson (Bernie Mac) is a local homeless guy. Tommy Shepard (Leon) is a high school security guard who secretly used to be a star player. His brother Birdie (Tupac Shakur) is a local drug lord. Shep starts going out with Kyle's mother. Kyle falls under Birdie's influence.

This movie starts with a ridiculous scene. Shep and his friend are playing basketball on the roof of a building. There's no fence. The friend tries to dunk and smash through the backboard falling to his death. The setup is stupid to begin with but it also looks stupid. It takes awhile for the movie to regain its credibility. It helps that there are some good acting going on here. I especially like Leon and Tupac. They are compelling brothers. I really like their story and their chemistry. The rest are solid. I just wish they redo that opening scene.

After about 18 years, I finally watched the entirety of Above the Rim on YouTube. In this one, Shep (Leon) has nightmares of the time his buddy Nutso (Matthew Guletz) was killed when they played basketball on the roof of an apartment. Several years later, he becomes a guard for various high school basketball games in which one Kyle Lee Watson (Duane Martin) is the star player who's in danger of becoming too arrogant for his own good to the chagrin of his coach Rollins (David Bailey) and his mother Mailika (Tonya Pinkins). In addition, he and his friend Bugaloo (Marlon Wayans) are hangin' with a drug dealer named Birdie (Tupac Shakur) who we find out is Shep's brother. Other somewhat important characters include a bum named Flip (Bernie Mac) and an associate of Bridie's named Motaw (Wood Harris). I'll stop there and just say this was quite a compelling drama with some humorous scenes involving both Mac and Marlon, not to mention Iris Little Thomas as a waitress who tries to come on to Shep. And unlike some other films that I watched recently that dealt with ghetto life, this one seems to lean toward a more hopeful ending for some of the more deserving characters. So in summary, I quite enjoyed Above the Rim. P.S. Both Ms. Pinkins and Harris are natives of my birthtown of Chicago, Ill.

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!)

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.

The only good thing about this movie was the soundtrack, probably my favorite soundtrack of any movie I've watched. Other than that, this movie was putrid. A bunch of largely unlikeable characters doing unlikeable stuff.

The lead character, Kyle (Duane Martin), was a cocky blue chip recruit that didn't know the meaning of team. Shep (Leon) was a surly washed up ex-ball player that hadn't smiled since his best friend died. His role was to impart the critical message and be a deus ex-machina. Birdie (Tupac) was a gangbanging drug dealer, and Mo (Wood Harris, most famously as Avon Barksdale from The Wire) was his henchman. Bugaloo (Marlon Wayans) was a clown. Flip (Bernie Mac) was a loud mouth and hostile bum. And there are your lead characters.

The story was a redemption story, but again, you'd have to care about the character being redeemed to like the story. I didn't. I couldn't even say that I liked the basketball, it was more like rugby with dribbling. There's being physical and there's felony assault. The final hoops showdown was nothing more than thugs in uniforms-- it was a mockery. I'm sure it was supposed to be something of a Rucker's Park tournament but the only similarity between "The Shootout" in ATR and Rucker's Park is they both have basketballs. ATR was terrible. Yes, it had a "happy" ending but that's a liberal use of the word because I was anything but by the end.

This is one of my guilty obsession type films. Most of the young actors (at the time), gave their best performances. The film is a bout a young basketball player who goes through a lot of trouble in his last year as a high school star point guard. Duane Martin shines in this role, perfectly casted, nice performance by the young actor. Tupac Shakur gives his best performance ever, better than his over-the-top Juice in which he was also impressive. Marlon Wayans, also gives one of his best early performances, not doing too much, didn't annoy me here. Leon's performance wasn't that great, hes not the best actor. I also liked Bernie Mac in a very hilarious role. The film is not perfectly acted, but Martin and Shakur carry it. Its a good screenplay, directed well, with great basketball scenes as well. great film 9/10

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.

Can you believe that this movie was made over 10 years ago? It is very hard to believe but this movie has stood the test of time and it is highly regarded as one of the greatest basketball/hip-hop movies ever made. Here you have a star studded cast which features Duane Martin, Tonya Pinkins,Marlon Wayans,Bernie Mac,Leon and the late great rapper/actor Tupac Shakur(2Pac). Here you can see why Tupac was highly respected not only as a celebrated gangsta rapper,but also a great actor with an impaccable skill and broad range and here in this movie you see why. A film that is not to be missed. Rating:***** five stars.

An absolute all rounder. The cast, the plot, the basketball all come 2getha 4 an absolute stunner of a film. The Medina/Pollack influence is clear (Fresh Prince), the film offers a realistic portrayal of life in the hood.Wayans is on a mental one the entire film, while Leon gives a far more sombre, dark performance as the traumatised player who could have had it all.Tupac......Tupac is Tupac and it don't get any better (or realer) than that. The film has some slight issues regarding the love interest (Kyle's mom and Shep)which I don't feel is entirely necessary, but my girlfriend thought it was cute so the film has the potential to appeal to all.But it, rent it, watch it, steal it, borrow it...do something to see this film and remember...."Recognise mother******!"

Hoosiers is good. Hackman and hopper are amazing as are the montage scenes and game scenes. This film entertains me more now than when I first seen it. Tupac is great. The entire cast is great. Feels like the Rucker. I spent a lot of time at the garden watching UConn and the big east was the thing 90-99. Warren G's regulate video has clips from this film playing during it after just stealing the young guns intro, def jam was the best. Leon is still my guy, loved shep's game. A thoughtful often tragic depiction of life in NYC. Every basketball fan needs to watch this film.

Directed by Jeff Pollack. Starring Duane Martin, Leon, Tupac Shakur, Marlon Wayans, David Bailey, Bernie Mac, Tonya Pinkins, Wood Harris, Shawn Michael Howard, Henry Simmons. (R)

Young basketball talent Martin finds himself pulled in different directions by two young men: Leon, a former star player who lost it all and now works as a security guard, and Shakur, a brash drug dealer who wants Martin to play for his rough-styling Rucker's Playground team. Pretty standard stuff by by both inner city sports movie and inner city criminal lifestyle movie standards, with predictable and superficial plotting and a few weak links in the supporting cast (Wayans especially). Although the characterization itself is familiar, Shakur is an attention-grabbing antagonist, and director Pollack manages some energy and flash during the basketball scenes. Better remembered today for its hit Death Row Records soundtrack rather than the actual content of the film itself.

54/100

This movie has a real street feel to it,and it shows the meaning of true friends and how difficult some kids have growing up in world with drugs and crime. One of my favorit movies in this genre,and this movie also contains some real cool basketball scenes.

Rated R for Language and Some Violence

Above The Rim is one of the few films rapper Tupac Shakur was featured in.This is the second film of his that I have seen, the other being Juice which was also a great film.Not many rappers are good actors(look at 50 Cent in Get Rich Or Die Trying, even though I liked the film, 50 Cent wasn't a very good actor).But Tupac is a great actor in both films and probably in all the other films he was featured in.Above The Rim is a basketball film about a young promising basketball star who meets this security guard who used to be an all star on the team he was in.The man's brother(Tupac) is a drug dealer.The film basically shows his relationship with the two and how the security guard is dating his mother.Because of this and other reasons, he dislikes him at first but then starts liking him.The film also stars Marlon Wayans who provides the comic relief in this film and Bernie Mac as a bum who knew the security guard.Above The Rim has good performances and is overall a good film.I would say just as good as "Juice".

...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

this was one of tupac's best movie ever.The story line was great and so was his peformence.I enjoy basketball and for those of you who are a huge fan of the sport or watching ghetto movies.Go to the video store and rent,you will like this movie so much that you would want to see it over and over again.

Yo was sup I'm telling u man I saw watched this movie about 3 times on the day I got it- Christmas 2005 and the only reason I would have done that is because it is the best movie on planet earth, yeah I'm prepared to make that statement, damn man this movie is tight man and it stars the late Tupac who is a better actor than I would have expected man I seriously think the guys in this movie must have played basketball at a high level cause you ain't gonna teach actors to play ball THAT GOOD. They definitely did a good job at making this movie and I would advise all Basketball lovers to watch this movie trust me you will absolutely love this movie and not to mention the gangsterous soundtrack which completely sets the mood for many of the scenes, it's a shame that Pain by 2pac is unreleased and is only on the casette version of the soundtrack as it is a GREAT song. anyway Peace out