Love & Basketball

“I want to talk about one other friend. I want to talk about Gina, Gina Prince-Bythewood and Love & Basketball. She’s always a little bit kind of sitting back and a little bit quiet sometimes. But then you get to know her and you realize she’s got an athlete’s confidence. And this first movie is a fantastic romantic exploration of that. It makes all the sense to me that she’s now making some of the most human, kick-ass, huge action movies... Gina, I love you. And I Love & Basketball.”

“Okay, I love that this is the first thing I’m finding, actually: Love & Basketball. Amazing film, but also I remember growing up and realizing that Gina Prince-Bythewood made a movie and I was like, “Oh, I can make movies. Great.” And this was in my dorm when I was in middle school and we just watched it over and over and over again. But I’ve never owned it and I’ve never had it, so I’m glad to get the Criterion edition of this.”

“Love & Basketball. This couple, this romance makes me want to play sports. Everything you want a movie to be, and it’s a true comfort film for me and a classic example of a romantic comedy that is not bogged down by the genre. I love it.”

“Love & Basketball by the great Gina Prince-Bythewood. Me and my producing partner and wife, Zinzi Coogler, we both met as athletes. We met on a track field. And yeah, this movie is about two athletes falling in love with each other, dipping in and out of each other’s lives in their pursuit of athletic greatness. I can’t look at this movie and not see us. I love the ending of this movie, the ending of this movie just puts a lump in your throat. This is the one.”

“Oh yeah, Love & Basketball. I'm so embarrassed I haven't seen it. That's it, that's all I'm going to say. I'm going to run home, see it now. Don't bully me.”

“I'm not gonna pull my own because it's tacky and because Criterion gave me about 10 copies of it but this was a big moment for me in film school... Knowing what it represented, how much I learned from it and then to get that call that they wanted to do Love and Basketball was a pretty great day.”

“Love & Basketball. Shout out to Gina.”

“Love & Basketball by Gina Prince-Bythewood. This film. Okay, so I probably saw this film... Height of puberty. Suddenly you’re interested in, you know, I was, you know, like, “Oh, look, that boy’s kind of cute.” And I’m– you know, that’s just peak teenage angst. And... It’s so good. The chemistry. Omar Epps, Sanaa Lathan. Just beautiful. Just such great performances. And Gina... I feel like I just rinsed this DVD so much that I broke it.”

“One of the great love stories ever told. I could watch this movie over and over and over again. I mean it goes without saying, Love & Basketball, always and forever. Watch it if you haven't.”