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Movies like He Got Game

Key Features:
Basketball, Father-son relationship, Redemption, Moral dilemma, Prison, Recruitment, Sports, Family drama, Ambition, Sacrifice, Street culture, Coming-of-age, Charismatic protagonist
Tone:
serious, dramatic, gritty
Target Audience:
Sports enthusiasts, Drama lovers, Fans of social commentary, Viewers interested in family dynamics
Emotional Arc:
Tension → Hope → Bittersweet

He Got Game

1998-05-01
He Got Game Poster - Find Similar Movies

A basketball player's father must try to convince him to go to a college so he can get a shorter prison sentence.

Genres
Drama
Cast
Denzel Washington, Ray Allen, Rosario Dawson, Milla Jovovich, Hill Harper, Ned Beatty, Jim Brown, Joseph Lyle Taylor, Bill Nunn, Michele Shay
Crew
Spike Lee, Spike Lee
Rating
6.7(765 votes)
He Got GameHe Got Game
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Above the Rim
7

Story of a promising high school basketball star and his relationships with two brothers, one a drug dealer and the other a former basketball star fallen on hard times and now employed as a security guard.



Rebound
Rebound(2005)
5.594

An acclaimed college hoops coach is demoted to a junior varsity team after a public meltdown.



Gridiron Gang
7

Under the leadership of their counselor, teenagers at a juvenile detention center gain self-esteem by playing football together. Based on a true story.



Uncle Drew
6.657

Uncle Drew recruits a squad of older basketball players to return to the court to compete in a tournament.



Levity
Levity(2003)
6.1

Manuel Jordan is a man who is free after serving 23 years for killing a teenager during an attempted robbery. After nearly two decades of staring at his victim's face on a newspaper clipping in his cell, the newly paroled man seeks redemption. Instead, redemption—in the form of a mysterious minister and two needy women— finds him.



Wild Bill
Wild Bill(2011)
6.8

Out on parole after 8 years inside Bill Hayward returns home to find his now 11 and 15 year old sons abandoned by their mother and fending for themselves. Unwilling to play Dad, an uncaring Bill is determined to move on.



Fences
Fences(2016)
6.872

In 1950s Pittsburgh, a frustrated African-American father struggles with the constraints of poverty, racism, and his own inner demons as he tries to raise a family.



In the Game
6.4

A rebellious teenager must travel the country with his sick grandpa to get to his basketball game.



Q
Q(2014)
5.8

When growing up in a community where gang violence is a way of life and Basketball is a way to escape it.



Prisoner's Daughter
6.143

Released from prison with terminal cancer, Max tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter and the grandson he’s never known. When his daughter’s abusive, drug-addicted ex-husband reappears, Max’s violent past comes back to haunt them all.



Baby Boy
Baby Boy(2001)
7.11

The story of Jody, a misguided, 20-year-old African-American who is really just a baby boy finally forced-kicking and screaming to face the commitments of real life. Streetwise and jobless, he has not only fathered two children by two different women-Yvette and Peanut but still lives with his own mother. He can't seem to strike a balance or find direction in his chaotic life.



Coach Carter
7.6

Based on a true story, in which Richmond High School head basketball coach Ken Carter made headlines in 1999 for benching his undefeated team due to poor academic results.



Hoop Dreams
7.6

Every school day, African-American teenagers William Gates and Arthur Agee travel 90 minutes each way from inner-city Chicago to St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois, a predominately white suburban school well-known for the excellence of its basketball program. Gates and Agee dream of NBA stardom, and with the support of their close-knit families, they battle the social and physical obstacles that stand in their way. This acclaimed documentary was shot over the course of five years.



Felon
Felon(2008)
7.1

A family man convicted of killing an intruder must cope with life afterward in the violent penal system.



Doing Hard Time
5

A father's eight year old son is murdered in a gangland shooting. The father gets himself thrown into prison to avenge his son's death.



Amateur
Amateur(2018)
6.4

14-year-old basketball phenom Terron Forte has to navigate the under-the-table world of amateur athletics when he is recruited to an elite NCAA prep school.



Just Cause
6.2

A Harvard professor is lured back into the courtroom after twenty-five years to take the case of a young black man condemned to death for the horrific murder of a child.



Bad Boys
Bad Boys(1983)
7

Mick O'Brien is a young Chicago street thug torn between a life of petty crime and the love of his girlfriend. But when the heist of a local drug dealer goes tragically wrong Mick is sentenced to a brutal juvenile prison where violence is a rite of passage and respect is measured in vengeance.



Shot Caller
6.956

A newly-released prison gangster is forced by the leaders of his gang to orchestrate a major crime with a brutal rival gang on the streets of Southern California.



The Philly Kid
5.461

A former NCAA champion wrestler is paroled after 10 years in prison. Now, to save a friend's life, in a series of cage fights he must agree to do the impossible - lose.



Hustle
Hustle(2022)
7.718

After discovering a once-in-a-lifetime player with a rocky past abroad, a down on his luck basketball scout takes it upon himself to bring the phenom to the States without his team's approval. Against the odds, they have one final shot to prove they have what it takes to make it in the NBA.



Wolves
Wolves(2016)
5.804

Anthony Keller, star of his NYC high school basketball team, is riding his way to Cornell on a sports scholarship. But he can only maintain his popular jock facade for so long, as his troubled father Lee has a gambling addiction that threatens to derail his dreams both on and off the court.



Boy A
Boy A(2008)
7.109

Freed after a lengthy term in a juvenile detention center, convicted child killer Jack Burridge finds work as a deliveryman and begins dating co-worker Michelle. While out on the road one day, Jack notices a distressed child, and, after reuniting the girl with her family, becomes a local celebrity. But when a local newspaper unearths his past, Jack must cope with the anger of citizens who fear for the safety of their children.



Lady Ballers
5.3

A once-great basketball coach is on a journey back to victory by reuniting his former high school championship basketball team, but this time, he’s challenging them to play like girls.



Hardball
Hardball(2001)
6.5

An aimless young man who is scalping tickets, gambling and drinking, agrees to coach a Little League team from the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago as a condition of getting a loan from a friend.



Jason's Lyric
6.745

The story of a young man who must confront his own fears about love as well as his relationships with family and friends.



White Men Can't Jump

Two street basketball hustlers try to con each other, then team up for a bigger score.



1992
1992(2024)
6.866

In 1992, Mercer is desperately trying to rebuild his life and his relationship with his son amidst the turbulent Los Angeles uprising following the Rodney King verdict. Across town, another father and son put their own strained relationship to the test as they plot a dangerous heist to steal catalytic converters, which contain valuable platinum from the factory where Mercer works. As tensions rise and chaos erupts, both families reach their boiling points when their worlds collide.



Training Day
7.508

On his first day on the job as a narcotics officer, a rookie cop works with a rogue detective who isn't what he appears.



Hustle & Flow
7.1

With help from his friends, a Memphis pimp in a mid-life crisis attempts to become a successful hip-hop emcee.



The Basketball Diaries

A high school basketball player’s life turns upside down after free-falling into the harrowing world of drug addiction.



The Hurricane
7.433

The story of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, a boxer wrongly imprisoned for murder, and the people who aided in his fight to prove his innocence.



Waist Deep
6.5

An ex-convict gets tangled up with a gang after his car is hijacked with his son inside.



A Score to Settle
5.8

A former mob enforcer who is released from prison after serving 22 years for a crime he didn't commit sets out on a path for revenge against the people who wronged him.



Madea Goes to Jail
6.5

After a high-speed car chase, Madea winds up behind bars because her quick temper gets the best of her. Meanwhile, Assistant District Attorney Josh Hardaway lands a case that's too personal to handle: that of a young prostitute and former drug addict named Candace, also a childhood friend. When Candace winds up in jail, Madea takes the young woman under her protective wing.



Get Rich or Die Tryin'

A tale of an inner city drug dealer who turns away from crime to pursue his passion, rap music.



Clemency
Clemency(2019)
6.3

Years of carrying out death row executions have taken a toll on prison warden Bernadine Williams. As she prepares to execute another inmate, Bernadine must confront the psychological and emotional demons her job creates, ultimately connecting her to the man she is sanctioned to kill.



Barbershop
6.383

A day in the life of a barbershop on the south side of Chicago. Calvin, who inherited the struggling business from his deceased father, views the shop as nothing but a burden and waste of his time. After selling the shop to a local loan shark, Calvin slowly begins to see his father's vision and legacy and struggles with the notion that he just sold it out.



Don't Let Them Shoot the Kite

Sent to prison along with his mother after her drug conviction, a young boy develops a warm, tender relationship with a political prisoner.



Ricochet
Ricochet(1991)
6.1

An attorney is terrorized by the criminal he put away years ago when he was a cop.



Undisputed
6.5

Monroe Hutchens is the heavyweight champion of Sweetwater, a maximum security prison. He was convicted to a life sentence due to a passionate crime. Iceman Chambers is the heavyweight champion, who lost his title due to a rape conviction to ten years in Sweetwater. When these two giants collide in the same prison, they fight against each other disputing who is the real champion.



Boyz n the Hood
7.624

In the middle of the Los Angeles ghetto, drugs, robberies and shootings dominate everyday life. During these times, Furious tries to raise his son Tre to be a decent person. Tre's friends, on the other hand, have little regard for the law and drag the entire neighborhood into a street war...



South Central
6.697

During a 10-year sentence for murdering the leader of a rival South Central Los Angeles gang, Bobby Johnson finds religion and rehabilitation with the help of Muslim inmate Ali. Upon his release, Bobby returns home to find that his young son, Jimmie, has joined the Deuces, his old crew. Tensions rise as Bobby struggles to convince Jimmie to leave the gang that was his only family during the painful years his absent father spent behind bars.



Dope
Dope(2015)
7.061

Malcolm is carefully surviving life in a tough neighborhood in Los Angeles while juggling college applications, academic interviews, and the SAT. A chance invitation to an underground party leads him into an adventure that could allow him to go from being a geek, to being dope, to ultimately being himself.



Son of a Gun
6.4

Locked up for a minor crime, 19 year old JR quickly learns the harsh realities of prison life. Protection, if you can get it, is paramount. JR soon finds himself under the watchful eye of Australia's most notorious criminal, Brendan Lynch, but protection comes at a price.



O.G.
O.G.(2018)
5.9

Louis Menkins is five weeks away from being released after 26 years in prison. He is faced with the decision to put his own release at risk in order to protect a young man named Beecher from growing gang controversies.



Cahill: United States Marshal

J.D. Cahill is the toughest U.S. Marshal they've got, just the sound of his name makes bad guys stop in their tracks, so when his two young boy's want to get his attention they decide to rob a bank. They end up getting more than they bargained for.



The 6th Man
6.073

A college athlete returns from the dead to help his brother's basketball team win the NCAA title.



Undisputed III: Redemption

Russian inmate Boyka, now severely hobbled by the knee injury suffered at the end of Undisputed 2. No longer the feared prison fighter he was, he has declined so far that he is now good only for cleaning toilets. But when a new prison fight tournament begins - an international affair, matching the best fighters from prisons around the globe, enticing them with the promise of freedom for the winner - Boyka must reclaim his dignity and fight for his position in the tournament.



The Way Back
6.6

A former basketball all-star, who has lost his wife and family foundation in a struggle with addiction, attempts to regain his soul and salvation by becoming the coach of a disparate ethnically mixed high school basketball team at his alma mater.



Life
Life(1999)
6.7

Two men in 1930s Mississippi become friends after being sentenced to life in prison together for a crime they did not commit.



Adulthood
Adulthood(2008)
6.2

After serving six years for killing his schoolmate, a young man learns that someone is out for revenge.



Bruised
Bruised(2021)
6.8

Jackie Justice is a mixed martial arts fighter who leaves the sport in disgrace. Down on her luck and simmering with rage and regret years after the fight, she's coaxed into a brutal underground fight by her manager and boyfriend Desi and grabs the attention of a fight league promoter who promises Jackie a life back in the Octagon. But the road to redemption becomes unexpectedly personal when Manny - the son she gave up as an infant - shows up at her doorstep. A triumphant story of a fighter who reclaims her power, in and out of the ring, when everyone has counted her out



Brian Banks
7.2

An All-American football player's dreams to play in the NFL are halted when he is falsely accused of rape and sent to prison.



A Bad Son
A Bad Son(1980)
7.439

Bruno is released from prison. He looks for a job and tries to start a new life. His first stop is at his father's apartment.



All Day and a Night
6.218

While serving life in prison, a young man looks back at the people, the circumstances and the system that set him on the path toward his crime.



The Underdoggs
7

Jaycen 'Two Js' Jennings is a washed-up former pro football star who has hit rock bottom. When sentenced to community service coaching the Underdoggs, an unruly pee-wee football team in his hometown, he sees it mostly as an opportunity to rebuild his public image. But in the process, he may just turn his life around and rediscover his love of the game.



Stephen Curry: Underrated

The remarkable coming-of-age story of Stephen Curry—one of the most influential, dynamic, and unexpected players in basketball history—and his rise from an undersized college player to a four-time NBA champion.



The Players Club
6.256

Single mother Diana struggles to provide for her child and pay for her college education. When she meets two dancers from a nearby gentlemen's club, Diana's convinced there's fast money to be made stripping.



Playing for Keeps
5.656

A former sports star who's fallen on hard times starts coaching his son's soccer team in an attempt to get his life together.



Death Sentence
6.775

Nick Hume is a mild-mannered executive with a perfect life, until one gruesome night he witnesses something that changes him forever. Transformed by grief, Hume eventually comes to the disturbing conclusion that no length is too great when protecting his family.



The Trials of Cate McCall

In order to be reinstated to the bar and recover custody of her daughter, a hotshot lawyer, now in recovery and on probation, must take on the appeal of a woman wrongfully convicted of murder.



Jamesy Boy
6.404

Based on the true story of teenager James Burns who goes from a suburban street gang to a maximum-security prison cell surrounded by hardened criminals. He turns his life around in prison thanks to the unexpected friendship he forms with a convicted murderer who becomes his mentor.



Life of a King
7.213

The true story of one man's mission to give inner city kids of Washington DC something he never had - a future. After being incarcerated for eighteen years, Eugene Brown established the Big Chair Chess Club to get kids off the streets and working towards lives they never believed they were capable of. This is his inspirational story.



Love & Basketball
7.3

Monica Wright and Quincy McCall grew up in the same neighborhood and have known each other since childhood. As they grow into adulthood, they fall in love, but they also share another all-consuming passion: basketball. As Quincy and Monica struggle to make their relationship work, they follow separate career paths though high school and college basketball and, they hope, into stardom in big-league professional ball.



Space Jam: A New Legacy

When LeBron and his young son Dom are trapped in a digital space by a rogue A.I., LeBron must get them home safe by leading Bugs, Lola Bunny and the whole gang of notoriously undisciplined Looney Tunes to victory over the A.I.'s digitized champions on the court. It's Tunes versus Goons in the highest-stakes challenge of his life.



O
O(2001)
5.9

Even though he's the only black student at the elite Palmetto Grove Academy, star basketball player and future NBA hopeful Odin James has the adoration of all, including the team's coach and the Dean's beautiful daughter Desi. Odin's troubled friend Hugo, the coach's son, is deeply resentful of his father's preference of Odin on and off the court. When Hugo plots a diabolical scheme to sow the seed of mistrust between O and Desi, it sets in motion a disturbing chain of events which erupts into a firestorm of breathtaking intensity.



More than a Game
7.26

This documentary follows NBA superstar LeBron James and four of his talented teammates through the trials and tribulations of high school basketball in Ohio and James' journey to fame.



Air Bud
Air Bud(1997)
5.565

A lonely boy befriends a stray dog who has a natural talent for basketball and together they experience the highs and lows of life as their friendship remains solid through a series of escapades.



Menace II Society
7.5

A young street hustler attempts to escape the rigors and temptations of the ghetto in a quest for a better life.



The Air Up There
6.137

Jimmy Dolan is a college basketball coach who wants a big promotion. To get it, he needs to make a dramatic find. He ends up deep in Africa, hoping to recruit Saleh, a huge basketball prodigy Jimmy glimpsed in a home movie. But Saleh is the chief's son and has responsibilities at home, since the tribe's land is threatened by a mining company with its own hotshot basketball team.



Bullet
Bullet(1996)
6.2

A tough, Jewish ex-con just released from prison crosses a powerful drug dealer and former prison rival in his return to a life of crime.



Small Crimes
5.383

A disgraced former cop, fresh off a six-year prison sentence for attempted murder, returns home looking for redemption but winds up trapped in the mess he left behind.



Bigil
Bigil(2019)
6.4

A do-gooder don wants his footballer son to uplift the life of his people by becoming a champion, but fate draws the youngster into a life of violence. Will he be able to fulfill his father’s dream when an opportunity comes his way seven years later?



White Men Can't Jump
6.372

Seemingly opposite street hoopers, Jeremy, an injury prone former star, and Kamal, a has-been prodigy, team up to take one final shot at living out their dreams.



The Game Plan
6.5

Bachelor football star Joe Kingman seems to have it all. He is wealthy and carefree, and his team is on the way to capturing a championship. Suddenly, he is tackled by some unexpected news: He has a young daughter, the result of a last fling with his ex-wife. Joe must learn to balance his personal and professional lives with the needs of his child.



Higher Learning
6.3

African-American student Malik is on a track scholarship; academics are not his strong suit, and he goes in thinking that his athletic abilities will earn him a free ride through college. Fudge, a "professional student" who has been at Columbus for six years so far, becomes friendly with Malik and challenges his views about race and politics in America.



Home Team
Home Team(2022)
6.6

Two years after a Super Bowl win when NFL head coach Sean Payton is suspended, he goes back to his hometown and finds himself reconnecting with his 12-year-old son by coaching his Pop Warner football team.



Last Dance
5.644

Upon taking a new job, young lawyer Rick Hayes is assigned to the clemency case of Cindy Liggett, a woman convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death. As Hayes investigates the background for her case, the two begin to form a deep friendship, while all the while the date for her execution draws nearer.



The System
7

When a young soldier, newly returned from war, gets caught up in a drug bust, he is recruited by the authorities to go undercover in a notoriously dangerous prison in order to figure out what is really going on.



Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story

Redemption tells the story of Stan "Tookie" Williams, founder of the Crips L.A. street gang. Story follows his fall into gang-banging, his prison term, and his work writing children's novels encouraging peace and anti-violence resolutions which earned him multiple Nobel Peace Prize nominations. After exhausting all forms of appeal, Tookie was executed by lethal injection.



Malcolm X
Malcolm X(1992)
7.545

A tribute to the controversial black activist and leader of the struggle for black liberation. He hit bottom during his imprisonment in the '50s, he became a Black Muslim and then a leader in the Nation of Islam. His assassination in 1965 left a legacy of self-determination and racial pride.



Outside In
6.162

An ex-con struggling to readjust to life in his small town forms an intense bond with his former high-school teacher.



The Judge
The Judge(2014)
7.328

A successful lawyer returns to his hometown for his mother's funeral only to discover that his estranged father, the town's judge, is suspected of murder.



Chang Can Dunk
6.827

Chang, a 16-year-old, Asian American, bets the high school basketball star that he can dunk by Homecoming. The bet leads 5' 8" Chang on a quest to learn to dunk—not only to impress his crush, Kristy, but to gain the respect of his high school peers too. But before he can rise up and truly throw one down, he'll have to reexamine everything he knows about himself, his friendships and his family.



Like Mike
Like Mike(2002)
6.1

Calvin and his friends, who all live in an orphanage, find old shoes with the faded letters MJ connected to a powerline. One stormy night, they go to get the shoes when Calvin and the shoes are struck by lightning. Calvin now has unbelievable basketball powers and has the chance to play for the NBA.



Hurricane Season
6.6

Based on true events amid the wreckage and chaos dealt by Hurricane Katrina; one basketball coach in Marrero, Louisiana just will not give up. Coach Al Collins, gathers other players from hard-hit schools and builds a team actually worthy enough to go to the state playoffs.



Mean Machine
6.246

Disgraced ex-England football captain, Danny 'Mean Machine' Meehan, is thrown in jail for assaulting two police officers. He keeps his head down and has the opportunity to forget everything and change the lives of the prisoners. When these prisoners have the chance to put one over the evil guards during a prison football match, Danny takes the lead.



Forever Strong
7.1

Hotshot rugby player Rick Penning was the star player of his Arizona high school team until a fateful brush with the law forces him to ponder the consequences of his actions in a Salt Lake City juvenile detention center.



The Son
The Son(2022)
6.716

A successful lawyer, with a new wife and infant, agrees to care for his teenage son from a previous marriage after his ex-wife becomes concerned about the boy's wayward behavior.



Sugar Hill
5.6

In the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, the Mafia steps in when a drug dealer quits his partner and brother to lead a straight life with his girlfriend.



Damage
Damage(2009)
6.6

An ex-con battles it out in the cage to pay for the operation that would save the daughter of his victim. Along the way he finds fatherly love, and friendship, in the most unlikely of places.



Walking Tall: The Payback

A man goes back to his hometown that is now overrun with crime and single-handedly takes justice into his own hands.



Shooting Stars
7.725

The inspiring origin story of a basketball superhero, revealing how LeBron James and his childhood friends become the #1 high school team in the country, launching James's breathtaking career as a four-time NBA Champion, two-time Olympic Gold Medalist and the NBA's all-time leading scorer.



House Party
6.4

Young Kid has been invited to a party at his friend Play's house. But after a fight at school, Kid's father grounds him. None the less, Kid sneaks out when his father falls asleep. But Kid doesn't know that three of the thugs at school have decided to give him a lesson in behavior.



We Die Young
6.8

Lucas, a 14-year-old boy inducted into the gang life in Washington D.C., is determined that his 10-year-old brother won't follow the same path. When an Afghanistan war veteran comes into the neighborhood, an opportunity arises.



The Winning Season
6.354

A comedy centered on a has-been coach who is given a shot at redemption when he's asked to run his local high school's girls basketball team



Imperial Dreams
6.6

A 21-year-old reformed gangster's devotion to his family and his future is put to the test when he is released from prison and returns to his old stomping grounds in Watts, Los Angeles.



Juice
Juice(1992)
7.2

Four Harlem friends -- Bishop, Q, Steel and Raheem -- dabble in petty crime, but they decide to go big by knocking off a convenience store. Bishop, the magnetic leader of the group, has the gun. But Q has different aspirations. He wants to be a DJ and happens to have a gig the night of the robbery. Unfortunately for him, Bishop isn't willing to take no for answer in a game where everything's for keeps.

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