Blue Chips
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Movie Reviews of Blue Chips
Movie Review: Again, Nolte Lives the Role
Summary: 3 Stars
There's one thing that puts Blue Chips one star above my usual 2-star rating for a guilty pleasure -- Nick Nolte! He absolutely rises above what is a disappointingly predictable script by Ron Shelton (Bull Durham) with mostly pedestrian direction by William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist).
The explosive, and ultimately comical opening scene in the locker room sets the stage for Coach Pete Bell's competitive demons to vie with his better angels for dominance where winning means everything -- big time collegiate basketball. While all the characters here seem to be drawn from all-too-familiar stereotypes, especially the slimy and corrupt alumni booster (J.T. Walsh) and the young recruits from relatively poor backgrounds (Shaquille O'Neal, Anfernee Hardaway, and Matt Nover), Nolte makes the role of Coach Bell singular in every way. Along the way we meet the likes of ex-NBA great Bob Cousy as the equally torn college athletic director as well as Coach Bell's friend and confidant; along with the likes of former players Larry Bird and Marques Johnson in fictional roles, real-life college coaches Jerry Tarkanian, Bobby Knight, Rick Pitino, and others.
I suppose what leaves a cynical taste is the utter lack of scruples displayed by so many, but especially the under-privileged parents of two of the recruits; they're more-than-willing participants in what Coach Bell feels he has to do in order to compete, making the whole exercise feel too legitimate in a "real world" sense. While the coach agonizes, the parents and recruits readily acquiesce. Still, Nolte strikes the right tone in it all.
Blue Chips is a film worth watching for its methodical, and in Nolte's hands, entertaining depiction of college basketball recruiting. Mary McDonnell as the coach's ex-wife makes an attractive, intelligent, but unwitting anti-foil to Nolte's various schemes to push the letter of the rules just a little bit further, helping him procure the team that rises above the mediocre and reaches the sublime.
While the second half of the story is mostly predictable and the message of redemption heavy-handed and contrived, the ending in the playground does indeed resonate. It's a good rental for an evening's entertainment for those who enjoy relevant sports movies, and especially for those who like seeing Nick Nolte play a role to the hilt.
Movie Review: What happened?
Summary: 3 Stars
Oh, how the mighty have fallen. In the `70s, director William Friedkin was at the peak of his powers. The one-two punch of The French Connection and The Exorcist made him a force to be reckoned with. And then, he made Sorcerer, a critical and commercial failure. His industry clout disappeared as fast as he had acquired it. Studios did not want to deal with his inflated ego and hard-headed pragmatism. Other than the excellent, To Live and Die in L.A. Friedkin has made one forgettable film after another through the `80s and `90s. On paper, Blue Chips must have seemed like a good idea. Team up Friedkin with a Ron Shelton (responsible for one of the best sports films ever, Bull Durham) penned screenplay to create a hard-hitting expose on college basketball. So, what happened?
Friedkin doesn't seem all that interested in the basketball sequences, shooting them in the standard way that we have seen on TV instead of trying something different, like employing his trademark you-are-there cinema verite which would have captured the intensity of a live game, much as Oliver Stone did in Any Given Sunday. Friedkin seems more interested in the off-court mechanics: the wheeling and dealing needed to get raw talent from high schools to their college without a rival school stealing/enticing them away and Bell wrestling with his conscious. This is when the film is at its strongest and most interesting.
Blue Chips is fine until its conclusion when it suddenly loses its freakin' mind when a guilt-ridden Bell tries to redeem himself at a post-game press conference. It just doesn't seem believable-especially when this scene is followed by a staggeringly naïve, it-starts-with-our-kids message that is way too preachy. It betrays what the film has been saying up to this point: that no one seems to play for the love of the game anymore. Everybody wants something - money, a house, a car, or a job. Ultimately, Blue Chips is about an honest man who sells his soul, who gives into overwhelming pressure to get what he wants and who loses his way. Friedkin almost pulls it off and the sudden, pat ending makes one wonder if he originally intended a more downbeat ending only for the timid studio to impose a more positive conclusion. In doing so, they've alienated the audience who was with them up until that point.
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