The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Kyle Lee Watson (Duane Martin) is the star basketball player at his high school, but his overly developed ego limits him from reaching his full potential. However via trials and tribulations he slowly starts finding the right path, in some part thanks to an unwilling mentor in the form of the school security guard Shep (Leon), who used to be NBA material, until one day tragically (and unintentionally comically) his best friend plummets to his death after trying to dunk. His brother on the other hand is local badboy Birdie (Tupac Shakur), who took to crime after Shep bailed out on the family.Despite B-movie credentials the presence of Tupac Shakur seems to have torpedoed the popularity of "Above the Rim". The story however remains derivative throughout, whilst the secondary plot is more than a tad schmaltzy, thrown in for good measure to introduce a father figure for Kyle. In addition to that the director Jeff Pollack goes extremely by the book, avoiding any turns or twists. Keeping it simple doesn't however work, as the resulting story is plot-thin and scarce of emotion. Once it gets to the ultimate and predictable show-down no connection has really been created between the viewers and the characters, hence no real enjoyment in watching this purposeless flick.Some key scenes are plain funny, unwillingly drawing a smirk to your face, while certain situations are blunderingly solved with disregard to logic and reason.

This is one of my guilty obsession type films. Most of the young actors (at the time), gave their best performances. The film is a bout a young basketball player who goes through a lot of trouble in his last year as a high school star point guard. Duane Martin shines in this role, perfectly casted, nice performance by the young actor. Tupac Shakur gives his best performance ever, better than his over-the-top Juice in which he was also impressive. Marlon Wayans, also gives one of his best early performances, not doing too much, didn't annoy me here. Leon's performance wasn't that great, hes not the best actor. I also liked Bernie Mac in a very hilarious role. The film is not perfectly acted, but Martin and Shakur carry it. Its a good screenplay, directed well, with great basketball scenes as well. great film 9/10

I had a few problems with this film. First of all, the entire B story with Sheppard was a little hokey. The tragic death of a best friend, and the best name the writers could think of was 'nutso'? Oh, and the dream sequence in the beginning I thought was really funny, in other words very poorly made. Those things aside, I enjoyed 'Above the Rim'. It was not a great movie, but it was an exceptional basketball movie, and a great time piece. Pollack captured the fashion and language of the mid-90's very well, and if nothing else this film will be fun to watch in twenty years as a reminder of what once was. Rating: 21/40

Can you believe that this movie was made over 10 years ago? It is very hard to believe but this movie has stood the test of time and it is highly regarded as one of the greatest basketball/hip-hop movies ever made. Here you have a star studded cast which features Duane Martin, Tonya Pinkins,Marlon Wayans,Bernie Mac,Leon and the late great rapper/actor Tupac Shakur(2Pac). Here you can see why Tupac was highly respected not only as a celebrated gangsta rapper,but also a great actor with an impaccable skill and broad range and here in this movie you see why. A film that is not to be missed. Rating:***** five stars.