‘Above the Rim’ By Desson Howe Washington Post Staff Writer March 23, 1994

Director: Jeff Pollack Cast: Tupac Shakur; Duane Martin; Tonya Pinkins; Leon; Marlon Wayans; Bernie Mac violence and considerable profanity

You wouldn't go to "Above the Rim" for the story. A stultifying cliche of a movie -- even by sports-flick standards -- this basketball allegory doesn't get anywhere near the rim. If there's any lure to this throwaway project, it's the gangsta-chic presence of Tupac Shakur, who, in real life, faces an array of sexual battery and illegal-gun-possession charges.

Shakur plays Birdie, a Lucifer-like hustler with his hand in drug dealing, prostitution and other rackets. Offering high school point guard Kyle (Duane Martin) quick cash, women and other "benefits," he wants the young man's soul in return.

Tugging Kyle from the positive end are his straight-and-narrow mother (Tonya Pinkins) and somber Shep (Leon), an erstwhile contender for the big leagues who's now resigned to security detail at Kyle's school.

Scriptwriter Barry Michael Cooper (who wrote "Sugar Hill") has never met a cliche he couldn't cheapen. In a conspiracy of mediocrity with Jeff Pollack (who produced, directed and co-wrote), he throws up nothing but third-rate platitudes about keeping your nose clean in the bad streets, paying back what you owe and resisting temptation. "Above the Rim," which also features shameless crowd-pleasers Marlon Wayans (as one of Kyle's pals) and Bernie Mac (as a former player now on the streets), abounds in cheap bad-boy conceits. Characters joke about each other's mothers. They quip about getting raped in jail. They make the usual gynecological references to female parts (Bernie Mac, you devil). There is overwrought high-five bonding between Wayans and Martin. And what would a movie like this be without a little up-and-down woman-ogling?

Yet this material's so trite, it would have to work nights to be offensive. The performers, particularly former Knicks player Martin, do their best to pump up the volume. Shakur, who saunters and slithers his way through every scene he's in, is undeniably watchable. With his hypnotic, sleepy-eyed expression, he suggests a scheming lynx on Quaaludes. Unfortunately, the feline effect is undermined by the bandanna knotted at the front of his head. It makes him look just a little too much like the Easter Bunny.

The scenario follows an incredibly banal route: As Kyle becomes increasingly drawn in to Birdie's lair, Shep develops a relationship with Kyle's mother, and Kyle discovers just why Shep has been moping his way through the entire movie.

Sports fans may find pleasure, though, in the court action. The movie features a plethora of real b-ballers, playing intense bouts in high school gyms and on the asphalt -- where Kyle and Shep suit up to take on Birdie's dirty-playing team in the obligatory climactic finale. But even sports fans and armchair gangstas would be well advised to wait for the video. This way they can watch "Rim" with the ultimate safety measure: the fast-forward button.

"Above the Rim" is rated R for violence and considerable profanity.

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