Recently at the Academy Awards ceremony, Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson, and Rosie Perez reunited in honor of the 30th anniversary (!!!) of White Men Can’t Jump. The iconic Ron Shelton basketball comedy is getting a remake that none of them wanted to speak, possibly for good reason as at that point the only casting was rapper Jack Harlow. Well, the Wesley to his Woody has now been cast. So where’s their Rosie?
Deadline reports The Breaks and Alice actor Sinqua Walls has joined Harlow in the White Men Can’t Jump remake. The film is being written by black-ish creator and Coming 2 America writer Kenya Barris, along with Doug Hall. Calmatic is directing this remake just as he’s doing the for another nostalgic movie, House Party.
White Men Can’t Jump centers on a pair of street basketball hustlers, one black and one white, who reluctantly team up to run game on other players and win big money. The film was the second of three pairings of Snipes and Harrelson (Wildcats, Money Train) and it helped turn both into mainstream leading men, earning $90M at the box office.
Honestly, I’m not really upset at the remake itself. White Men Can’t Jump could use a modern take that looks at it with fresh eyes. It won’t take away from my enjoyment of the original which is a stone cold classic and still funny as Hell to this day. And honestly, I don’t know enough about Harlow or Walls to judge whether they’re a good pair or not.
