By Christy Lemire
The Associated Press
It’s clear we’re in fantasyland early on in “Just Wright,” when the New Jersey Nets play their home opener in front of a sold-out, raucous crowd on their way to winning the Eastern Conference championship.
And the whole world — not just the sports media but also the trashy gossip magazines — is fascinated by the team’s star player, Scott McKnight, chasing him around to find out who he’s dating and speculating about what he’ll do once his contract is up at the end of the season.
As fantasies go, though, this is a superfamiliar one — it’s the Cinderella fairy tale, set in the basketball world — and director Sanaa Hamri and writer Michael Elliot don’t breathe much new life into it. “Just Wright” is full of clichés, contrivances and stock characters. A bland performance from producer and star Queen Latifah does nothing to elevate the material.