Above the Rim is a 1994
basketball-based hood film directed by Jeff Pollack, adapted from a short story by Benny Medina into a screenplay penned by Barry Michael Cooper. Kyle-Lee Watson (
Duane Martin) is a young, cocky, aspiring basketball player about to graduate from high school and hoping to attend Georgetown University to go pro. All the while, he is having difficulties playing for his school's team and catching the eye of Birdie (
Tupac Shakur), a local drug dealer heading his own team. As if that weren't enough, he feels a growing resentment towards his security guard, former basketball star Thomas Sheppard (Leon Robinson) for ignoring his attempts at apprenticeship and his brooding romance with his mother. Kyle is forced to pick a team fast, as the pressure of college acceptance, unsavory sponsors, and a brooding, shifty man entering his life mounts.
This film provides examples of:
- Bad Guy Bar: Naturally, this is where Birdie and his crew hang out. It's bathed in dark red lights, making him appear even more ominous and unsettling than usual.
- Berserker Rage: Kyle has a breakdown on the court when he finally sees his mother at one of his games, but it turns out to be a date with Shep. It gets significantly worse in the privacy of the locker room, where he screams, cries, and nearly throttles Shep.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Kyle's best friend Bugaloo (played by Marlon Wayans) is the comedy relief of the film, and acts like a court jester when around Birdie and his crew. Birdie bullies and mocks him every chance he gets. But it's when Birdie tries to have kill Kyle out of anger, because he chose another team and caused him to lose the basketball tournament that Baguloo finally snaps and shoots Birdie to death at a nightclub.
- Catapult Nightmare: The film opens with Shep having a nightmare remembering the fateful night where his best friend Nutso died dunking on a rooftop hoop.
- Cheaters Never Prosper: Birdie's team plays dirty, elbowing and shoving to incapacitate the opposite team. That all falls apart when Shep gets back into the game.
- Coming of Age Story: Kyle-Lee Watson is about to graduate high school and has to decide fast where he wants to go with his life as a basketball player. His desire to gain the approval of Sheppard comes across as a boy desperately seeking a father figure to guide and appraise him, as he lacks a father in his household.
- Conflicting Loyalty: Kyle has a hard time deciding whether he should take his legitimate basketball career in school seriously, or start playing for Birdie's street team.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Birdie has a noticeable scar on the right side of his face.
- I Did What I Had to Do: Birdie felt compelled to start selling drugs to feed his family when Shep was locked up for Nutso's death. They had no electricity, food, or heat, and all the while, their mother was convinced Shep would come back to save them all.
- Karmic Death: Bugaloo meets Birdie in the club and shoots him in the chest. Justice is served not only for him, but also for Flip.
- My Greatest Failure: It's clear that Shep considers Nutso's death his. He was the one who bet money on Nutso not being able to dunk, incentivizing him to do it even when it was not at all a good idea considering the location.
- No OSHA Compliance: The basketball court on the roof where Nutso died. There are no gates, there's a huge skylight obscuring a sizeable chunk of the roof, and one of the backboards is flimsy, breaking away when Nutso dunked on it, allowing to fall to his death.
- Obviously Evil: Birdie, with his scar, bandana, and manner of dress ranging from fatigues to all-black, and the same goes for his goons.
- Parent with New Paramour: Malika starts dating Sheppard, which Kyle is obviously not happy with, especially after Shep continuously refuses to be his mentor. Conflict ensues.
- Plot-Triggering Death:
- Nutso's death turns the originally cocky and hotheaded Thomas Sheppard into a brooding, stoic recluse, sinking away from his family when they need him the most and forcing his younger brother Birdie to sell drugs to make ends meet. His unwillingness to open up also makes an enemy out of Kyle, who simply wants the guidance of a former star player.
- The death of Ms. Sheppard angers Birdie as he was the primary caretaker of her when Thomas was in prison, all the while she'd talk about Thomas coming back to help them.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Birdie gives Sheppard no shortage of them whenever they share a screen together.
- Kyle's mother, Malika, who he is dating, also gives him one when she breaks up with him for being a coward by not facing his problems, which was starting to cause her son problems. This speech is the one that finally wakes him up, and he wins her back.
- Struggling Single Mother: Malika Watson works long shifts at the hospital to keep food on the table, which makes it hard for her to go to her son's games and helps drive a wedge between them.
- What the Hell, Hero?:
- Kyle is constantly being called out for his hotheadedness and aggressiveness towards Sheppard.
- Birdie calls out Sheppard for not being there for the family when they were dirt-poor and starving.
