Ball Don't Lie (2008)
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20% of critics liked it
(5 reviews) -
64% of users liked it
(122 ratings)
Screen newcomers Kim Hidalgo and Grayson Boucher headline director Brin Hill's inner-city sports drama concerning a talented but deeply troubled high school basketball star, and featuring an impressive ensemble cast including Rosanna Arquette, Nick Cannon, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges,… More Screen newcomers Kim Hidalgo and Grayson Boucher headline director Brin Hill's inner-city sports drama concerning a talented but deeply troubled high school basketball star, and featuring an impressive ensemble cast including Rosanna Arquette, Nick Cannon, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Harold Perrineau, and Emilie de Ravin. Sticky (real-life basketball player Boucher) may be a king on the court, but when that final buzzer sounds his life turns upside down. Despite the fact that the skinny high school junior is a talented athlete, an early-life tragedy, a bad experience in the foster care system, and an obsessive-compulsive disorder that miraculously vanishes when he steps on the court seem to be hindering Sticky from living up to his true potential. One day, while Sticky is sinking hoops on a Venice Beach basketball court where tempers are known to flare, he begins to realize that he's not the only one struggling to overcome his troubled past and achieve true success. Later that night, Sticky plans to meet up with his girlfriend, Anh-thu (Hidalgo), and celebrate her birthday. He wants to buy her a present that will impress her and show his true devotion, but with only a few dollars to his name that's going to be a pretty daunting task. Now, over the course of one long day, Sticky will struggle to conquer his lifelong feeling of isolation, transcending his perceived limitations, and make a difficult choice that could alter the course of his entire life. Screenwriter and novelist Matt de la Peņa teams with director Hill to adapt de la Peņa's popular novel of the same name. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Directed By
- Brin Hill
- Written By
- Brin Hill, Matt de la Peņa
- Genres
- Drama
- In Theaters
- Dec 1, 2008 Wide
- Studio
- Slowhand Cinema Releasing
Critic Reviews
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Ronnie Scheib, Variety
Handcuffed to a story with no internal development and without the stylistic rigor to transform its jerky stop-and-start rhythm into an aesthetic, pic jumps from one disconnected scene to another.
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John P. McCarthy, Boxoffice Magazine
Ball Don't Lie has what you might call an excess of street cred.
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Joseph Jon Lanthier, Slant Magazine
Less a movie than a sadomasochistic plot party where every conceivable contrivance of teenage woe is asphyxiated to the brink of orgasm and then abandoned to gasp for air and soothe its throbbing vitals.
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Cole Smithey, ColeSmithey.com
Kim Hidalgo gives a notable performance as Sticky's girlfriend Anh-thu, but it's Boucher's slow-burn intensity and unmistakable basketball skills that drive this entertaining independent drama.
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Erik Davis, Cinematical
Had Ball Don't Lie gone the straight linear route and changed the story so that our main character was actually working toward a concrete goal, perhaps the film would've shined.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Grayson Boucher
as Sticky
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Kim Hidalgo
as Annie
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Chris "Ludacris" Bridges
as Julius
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Rosanna Arquette
as Francine
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Nick Cannon
as Mico
- Melissa Leo
- Mykelti Williamson
- Harold Perrineau Jr.
- Cress Williams
- Emilie De Ravin
- Ricardo Antonio Chavira
- Steve Harris
- Mums
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Cody Longo
as Dave