A shouting-and-screaming film, about hustling in the backstreets basketball courts of Venice, California.

Moulded along the lines of a buddy-buddy comedy, it features Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson as a black/white combination that lulls the opposition into a false sense of security, then takes all their money in the subsequent game.

Director Ron Shelton leaves nothing to chance here: there are gags, action, gangsters, four-letter words and steamy sex scenes galore. Wesley's sensuous spouse wants to get away from the ghetto.

Woody's voluptuous Puerto Rican girlfriend - hey guys, let's get another ethnic group in - has a different ambition: she's stuffing her head full of knowledge for the day she gets on to the TV quiz show Jeopardy. That's the whole plot, and it has a few streetwise smiles along the way.

But, like its characters, it gets a bit tiresome towards the end and you, too, may grow weary at making the effort to keep up with its screeching, squeaking, high-velocity dialogue.