Basketball Movie Review
Blue Chips
College basketball recruiting gets dragged through the mud while Shaq and Penny stroll onto the floor and accidentally give the movie more real hoop talent than most casts could dream of.
The movie is uneven; the basketball credibility is absurd. Shaq, Penny and a bench full of real hoop people make half the genre look like community theatre.
Movie details
1994 · 1h 48m · Drama
Director William Friedkin
- Nick Nolte — Pete Bell
- Shaquille O'Neal — Neon Boudeaux
- Penny Hardaway — Butch McRae
- Mary McDonnell — Jenny Bell
- Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway made Blue Chips around the same period they were becoming Orlando Magic teammates, giving the movie a weird preview of one of the NBA's great 90s what-ifs.
- The cameo list is outrageous: Bob Knight, Rick Pitino, Larry Bird, Jim Boeheim, Dick Vitale, Bob Cousy, Jerry Tarkanian and more appear around the fictional programme.
01
The Take
Blue Chips is angriest when it looks at the gap between the clean public language of college basketball and the money, favors and pressure moving underneath it. Pete Bell is not discovering corruption so much as discovering how badly he wants to win once everybody else appears willing to bend the rules. The morality can be broad, but the ecosystem feels recognisable.
02
Does the Basketball Hold Up?
Then there is the unfair advantage: Shaquille O'Neal and Penny Hardaway. You cannot fake Shaq swallowing the paint or Penny delivering a pass on time. The production can simply let real size, pace and timing happen in front of the camera, which gives the court scenes a physical truth most basketball movies never approach.
03
Best Basketball Moment
Any extended stretch with Shaq and Penny sharing the floor. The plot can stop for thirty seconds and the movie suddenly looks like somebody opened an NBA broadcast inside a drama.
04
Ball Cred
Shaq, Penny, Bob Knight, Rick Pitino, Larry Bird, Jim Boeheim, Dick Vitale and more. The cast list reads less like casting and more like somebody stole a credential for coaches convention week.