Juwanna Mann
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: June 21, 2002 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
24
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
2
Mixed:
5
Negative:
18
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Ray Conlogue
Here's a truly novel sports film: It actually has a script, decent acting, sympathetic characters. And it's fun. Read full review
70
The New York TimesDana Stevens
But even though, most of the time, you know exactly what will happen next -- you don't much mind. Nor do the many plot holes and improbabilities -- undermine its silly, raucous spirit. Read full review
50
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
Director Jesse Vaughan keeps the ball in play through the aw-shucks lessons in humility and generosity, but the teamwork is shoddy, the plays lack surprise and, finally, Juwanna Mann misses more than it hits. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineSteve Simels
Comic Tommy Davidson, in particular, is hilarious as gangsta rapper Puff Smokey Smoke, who falls for Juwanna and then, in a twist lifted directly from the queen of all drag farces, 1959's "Some Like It Hot," decides he still loves her after she's exposed as Jamal. After all, nobody's perfect. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Predictable to its very core, and in a funny way the predictability is part of the fun. The movie is in on the joke of its own recycling. Read full review
50
USA TodayMike Clark
This isn't the worst movie Warner Bros. has brought out this summer (Scooby-Doo, boo on you), but for it to work, you have to accept the irredeemable stupidity of almost every character. Time better spent: a Shaquille O'Neal film festival on video. Read full review
40
Chicago ReaderTed Shen
The idea of transposing the story to the macho, greedy world of big-time sports is promising, but director Jesse Vaughan delivers only flat dialogue and predictable situations. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeJanice Page
It is Kevin Pollak who steals what there is of a show as Jamal's passive-aggressive, pressure-cooked agent. His comedic timing, particularly given the thinness of the script, is the only genuinely impressive slam dunk this movie has to offer. Read full review
38
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Excruciatingly flat comedy. Read full review
33
Portland OregonianJay Boyar
"Tootsie" meets "Hoop Dreams" in Juwanna Mann, and they don't get along. This basketball comedy turns out to be a total drag -- in both senses. Read full review
25
New York PostJonathan Foreman
It's all so insincere, you can almost imagine the filmmakers rubbing their hands together at the prospect of ripping off the public. Read full review
25
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
Bottom line: Juwanna Mann is a drag - in every sense of the word.
25
Chicago TribuneRobert K. Elder
It's tempting to call traveling on Juwanna Mann, except it never goes anywhere. This film fouls out. Read full review
25
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
As anyone who has peered in on the actual WNBA for five minutes knows, professional women basketball players are as tough as men. That the film treats this as a joke isn't funny -- it's the height of lame condescension. Read full review
25
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
A postseason basketball comedy that shoots and misses at a rate that would embarrass even the Los Angeles Clippers.
25
San Francisco ChronicleCarla Meyer
Women had to struggle for years to launch their own basketball league; it's a shame that the first movie to address their success is a drag comedy, and a lousy one at that. Read full review
20
Washington PostDesson Thomson
If this sounds like "Tootsie" with a ball, well, it is. Screenwriter Bradley Allenstein should be hauled up in writer's court for his shameless cribbing of that far superior comedy. Someone call a foul. Read full review
20
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
Relies on the most time-tested basic moves of farce for laughs that just don't come. Read full review
20
VarietyDennis Harvey
Bringing absolutely no fresh angles to a time-tested formula that's seemed particularly overworked of late. Read full review
20
New Times (L.A.)Robert Wilonsky
This limp gender-bender-baller from a first-time director and rookie screenwriter steals wholesale from that 1982's "Tootsie," forgetting only to retain a single laugh.
20
Los Angeles TimesGene Seymour
When the outtakes at the end don't make you laugh, what does that tell you about the movie that preceded them? Read full review
11
Austin ChronicleRussell Smith
This is one that, like a 1am rerun of a late-season Cavs-Grizzlies matchup, deserves to play out in darkness and obscurity. Read full review
10
L.A. WeeklyPaul Malcolm
So what in this high-concept lame-a-thon makes screenwriter Bradley Allenstein think he can diss the Clippers? Read full review
10
Village VoiceLaura Sinagra
This flat run at a hip-hop "Tootsie" is so poorly paced you could fit all of Pootie Tang in between its punchlines. Read full review
0
Miami HeraldCharles Savage
A sad and rote exercise in milking a played-out idea -- a straight guy has to dress up in drag -- that shockingly manages to be even worse than its title would imply. Read full review
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