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DVD Review: “Playin’ For Love” Hits All The Right Notes

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“Playin’ For Love” tells the story of Coach Banks, who is used to calling all the shots for his championship high school basketball team and in his own love life. But that’s about to change when he meets, Talisa McCoy (Richardson-Whitfield), the mother of a star player, new to Jackson High.

With so much cynicism and negativity in the world today, I found Robert Townsend’s “Playin’ For Love” to be a breath of fresh air. The actor/director who gave us “Hollywood Shuffle” and “Eddie Murphy: Raw,” delivers a romantic yet lighthearted comedy that takes place in the world of college basketball. Having won the championship six times in a row, Coach Banks (Robert Townsend) is determined to win again. With a new star player, Justice McCoy (Daniel Yorel Cooper), in his arsenal, everything appears to be copacetic. That is of course, until Justice’s mother, Talisa (Salli Richardson-Whitfield), makes herself known to Coach Banks and offers him some new plays for his team, including her son.

He politely laughs her off but when they get round to playing the first game in the tournament, he is beyond surprised when Justice informs him that he can’t play. Talisa tells him if he doesn’t include some of the plays she proposed for his team, her son will not play. With her father having been a star basketball player in his day, she knows more about the game than most and with the clock ticking down, Banks runs to his office and swiftly returns with her playbook in hand, and very grudgingly has his team perform some of her suggested plays. They win the game and both Banks and Talisa come to respect each other. Gradually, their friendship blossoms and inevitably, turns romantic.

When word surfaces that Banks had intended to sign Justice over to a competing college so that he could collect a large signing bonus as the new coach of that team, Talisa fears that he was using her, for her son, and cuts off all contact with him. With the finals just days away, both Banks and his players have to bring their A game, if they are to beat their undefeated rivals, and in the process, he must figure out a way to win Talisa back and prove just how much he really loves her.

The story is clichéd and you can see everything coming a mile away but thanks to the charming and irresistible performances of Robert Townsend and Salli Richardson-Whitfield, the movie unfolds with assured prediction. With so much violence and coarse language permeating throughout most movies these days, “Playin’ for Love” plays it safe, and sometimes, that’s exactly what we need.

Available on DVD and Digital February 9th

 
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1 Comment

  1. Latasha says:

    It doesn’t take coarse language make a Curse words are the only things that make a character profane.

    Salli Richardson’s character has me with the “I smell shit” face. She is disgustingly arrogant.

    I’m thinking “I would have dismissed her son from the team, due to her self-assured bullshit”.

    Had a male character been portraited in the same light, I’m sure the expected audience consensus would have been instant dislike.

    I’m turning at commercial, and most likely not coming back.

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James McDonald

Originally from Dublin, Ireland, James is a Movie Critic with 40 years of experience in the film industry as an Award-Winning Filmmaker. He is also a member of the Critics Choice Association and the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association.