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Above the Rim poster

Above the Rim

year 1994decade 90sdirector Jeff Pollackgenre Dramagenre Sports

97 minutes

Cast

Selected cast credits · Film reference

Duane Martin Kyle Lee Watson
Leon Shep
Tupac Shakur Birdie
David Bailey Rollins
Tonya Pinkins Mailika
Marlon Wayans Bugaloo
Bernie Mac Flip
Byron Minns Monroe
Wood Harris Motaw
Henry Simmons Starnes
Eric Nies Montrose
Cinnamon Paige Young Woman
Debra Rubins Hostess
Bill Raftery Himself
John Thompson Himself

Above the Rim | The Rewatchables

host Bill Simmonshost Van Lathanhost Wosny Lambreproducer Craig Horlbeck
Explore episodeClose episode

Most Rewatchable Scene

Final championship game: Shep in corduroys

In the discussion (18)
Approx. transcript time · 00:30:38Read transcript
  • Birdie’s first club recruitment is nominated for Tupac’s charming, seductive register alongside his menacing and wounded scenes.
  • The club recruitment’s secret-room atmosphere and smarmy recruiter who knows Kyle’s shoe size make it a favorite.
  • Kyle’s one-on-one game against Flip mixes Bernie Mac’s aggressive comedy with the moving reminder that their past championship cannot be erased.
  • Birdie rejecting Bug, followed by Kyle challenging Shep and Shep addressing Nutso, is a scene candidate.
  • Shep talking to a dead person and practicing without a ball raise concern about him as a prospective stepfather.
  • The opening Nutso rooftop death is nominated despite being considered absurd, with inconsistent walls/glass and impractical varsity jackets.
  • Big Pimpin’ into the tournament signup is a favorite forty-five seconds that deserves a longer cut.
  • The first tournament montage combines hard fouls, music and the coach’s abrupt Georgetown-letter announcement.
  • Shep’s thirteen-for-thirteen performance is praised.
  • Shep’s midrange shooting conveys disciplined old-school skill and purity.
  • Shep lighting everyone up in corduroys is an especially fun five-minute stretch.
  • Kyle’s Georgetown shot directly into Regulate is nominated and looks so authentic it was once mistaken for Martin’s real college footage.
  • The final game wins explicitly, with Shep’s apparent heave revealed as an alley-oop.
  • Shep’s shooting form and defense are admired.
  • Shep in corduroys is reiterated as the winning scene.
  • Wayans’s entire performance is a comic alternative, especially the gold-Urkel remark and his post-jail introduction showing off his physique.
  • The first outdoor shadow-basketball scene is an additional nomination for its bizarre ball-free practice.
  • The coach telling Shep he can help Kyle avoid repeating his mistakes is an additional scene nomination.

What’s Aged the Best?

Tupac; Wood Harris; Eric Nies; Shep’s game; marketing; villains; streetball; Tonya Pinkins

In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 00:49:28Read transcript
  • Tupac at his peak and Harris’s later Wire connection have aged well.
  • Eric Nies’s Real World and The Grind fame makes Montrose an especially 1990s casting choice; his basketball bearing and passing look convincing.
  • Shep’s twenty-six points in one half in corduroys deserve comparison with famous real basketball performances.
  • Kyle’s Michael Jordan Aerial Assault poster is exciting nostalgic decoration despite being judged a bad poster.
  • Shep’s fourteen-year grief is both best and worst: it drives the plot but leaves him implausibly unable to function or accept companionship.
  • The Holler If Ya Hear Me trailer is credited with attracting audiences and anticipating later song-driven marketing.
  • The entertaining villains make it possible to root for both tournament teams.
  • The film’s promotional poster is praised.
  • The white big man on Kyle’s team is an enjoyable 1990s type; the idea he is the coach’s son is speculative and challenged by his absence from the school team.
  • Yellow tape and crowds pressing onto the court convincingly capture New York streetball culture.
  • Tonya Pinkins’s mother character is praised for fierce vulnerability, firm parenting and a steadying perspective on college ambitions.

What’s Aged the Worst?

Wikipedia coverage; Kyle; low rims; urination gag; phone; romance concerns; hair and scar

In the discussion (9)
Approx. transcript time · 00:51:37Read transcript
  • Shep’s extreme, long-lasting reaction to Nutso’s death is both an entertaining premise and an implausible obstacle to his life.
  • The thin Wikipedia page is criticized for insufficient detail, including no Pee Wee Kirkland mention.
  • Kyle’s ball-dominant, selfish play and unlikeability are criticized; a defense says his troubled adolescence serves Shep’s story.
  • Apparently lowered rims make the repeated dunks implausible compared with Kyle’s limited reach against Flip.
  • The anteater urination gag should have been cut.
  • Birdie’s antiquated mobile phone dates the film.
  • The mother’s attraction to Shep is questioned given his work proximity, drug-dealing brother, poverty and odd behavior; vulnerability, loyalty and her financial independence are offered in defense.
  • Kyle’s Marbury-style middle-part haircut has aged badly.
  • Birdie’s scar looks hastily and unconvincingly applied.

The Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award

Montrose’s story would be better; best basketball movie; Big East turning point

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:12:01Read transcript
  • The better player Montrose could anchor a more interesting film about a white New York hooper navigating basketball and a racist home community; this is an imagined story, not supplied film backstory. — Wosny Lambre
  • The opening best-basketball-movie claim is repeated as another hot take.
  • The Georgetown ending is called the beginning of the Big East’s decline; later Syracuse/UConn success is a counterargument, while losing recruits like Marbury illustrates the claim.

Sequel, Prequel, Limited Series, or All-Black Remake

Montrose: Above the Rim2 / Below the Rim

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:12:27Read transcript
  • A Montrose-centered follow-up imagines a white basketball player navigating racist peers and cross-cultural experience.
  • The earlier Montrose follow-up is reaffirmed in the formal category.

The Joey Pants “That Guy” Award

Coach; Jackie Aprile actor; Byron Minns

In the discussion (3)
Approx. transcript time · 01:18:50Read transcript
  • The coach’s actor is a that-guy choice whose name remains uncertain in the discussion.
  • The actor recognized as Jackie Aprile is another that-guy choice.
  • Byron Minns as the other security guard is identified through South Central and selected as a familiar 1990s face.

Apex Mountain

Duane Martin; Eric Nies; shadow basketball; street-tournament imitations; 1990s New York basketball

In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 01:26:33Read transcript
  • Two yes responses favor this as the peak 1990s basketball movie; Blue Chips is a dissenting choice for its predictive story.
  • Playing basketball without a ball receives an uncontested yes.
  • Tupac receives no because of personal troubles.
  • The film and contemporary Knicks/point-guard culture support a yes for 1990s New York basketball relevance.
  • Martin receives an unqualified yes.
  • Pinkins’s Tony-winning theater work is preferred to this film as her overall peak.
  • Rucker Park imitation tournaments receive a yes.
  • Bernie Mac receives no, with his television show and The Players Club stronger candidates.
  • Eric Nies receives a yes.
  • Tha Dogg Pound receives an initial yes but New York, New York and its video are a competing peak.
  • Leon receives a yes from one participant; The Five Heartbeats and especially The Temptations performance as David Ruffin are competing choices.

Just One Oscar

Soundtrack/song; Tupac; Tonya Pinkins

In the discussion (4)
Approx. transcript time · 01:36:49Read transcript
  • The soundtrack is one Oscar choice.
  • Tupac’s varied Birdie performance is another choice.
  • Pinkins is a competing performance choice.
  • Because soundtrack is not an Oscar category, the idea shifts to original song, with Big Pimpin’ proposed against the Lion King-dominated field.

What Piece of Memorabilia Would You Want From This Movie?

Shep’s corduroys; Motaw jersey; power-tool poster; Birdie razor; Nutso jacket

In the discussion (5)
Approx. transcript time · 01:45:45Read transcript
  • Shep’s game-used corduroys are a memorabilia choice.
  • Motaw’s Bulldogs tournament jersey is the same participant’s alternative.
  • The Grip It, Feel It power-tool advertisement behind a street conversation is another choice.
  • Birdie’s razor blade is selected, with discussion of the real practice of hiding one in the mouth and uncertainty about its origins.
  • Nutso’s letterman jacket is a final candidate, especially if it carries his name.

The Coach Finstock Award for Best Life Lesson

Recognize runners; ball-free outdoor basketball is troubling

In the discussion (2)
Approx. transcript time · 01:47:31Read transcript
  • The mother’s warning about a man who runs away is the first lesson.
  • Outdoor basketball without a ball is jokingly treated as evidence that someone needs help.

Who Won the Movie?

Soundtrack; Tupac as human winner

In the discussion (1)
Approx. transcript time · 01:47:31Read transcript
  • Tupac is initially selected, but the soundtrack becomes the overall choice once declared eligible; Tupac remains the explicitly qualified human winner.
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