White Men Can't Jump Is A Lot Of Fun Masking What Appears To Be A Pretty Debilitating Gambling Addiction

If there’s a moral to be gleaned from White Men Can’t Jump, it’s that that if someone carrying many hundreds of dollars in cash—without a wallet in sight—challenges you to an expensive bet, it’s probably because they know something you don’t. I realize people relied on paper money more back in the ’90s, but no one winds up on the blacktop with a month’s worth of rent tucked into their socks without a plan to win.

This movie is mainly a vehicle for cool basketball choreography, increasingly absurd “your momma” jokes, and covetable denim looks/men in crop tops. Which is not in any way to its detriment, even if the plot that loosely ties all these scenes together is resolved in one of the most absurd deus ex machina financial windfalls in cinematic history. (And no, Gloria’s established interest in Jeopardy does not count as sufficient groundwork to justify her convenient appearance and prowess on the show.)