Cinema

By Ricard Schickel

Hard concrete courts, baking under the heat of the L.A. sun, and young men from the ghetto shaking out their frustrations by playing a kind of attack basketball -- all high-bouncing dazzle, nasty elbows and insults that come at you in rap rhythm. Billy Hoyle (Woody Harrelson) intrudes into this essentially black world with intent to hustle (gambling on these pickup games is heavy). Maybe WHITE MEN CAN'T JUMP, but in all other respects he's a fully qualified player -- except possibly in the brains department. But smart Sidney Deane (Wesley Snipes) has enough wit for both men, and after initial edginess they form a winning (and profitable) two-on-two team in a movie that is not as winning as it should be. Writer-director Ron Shelton covers the action excitingly, but his plot is strictly a two-handed set shot. He did much better with Bull Durham, his leisurely, literate movie about minor-league baseball. It makes you think he's probably a nice white guy who just can't jump to an inner-city beat. R.S.