Sanaa Hamri isn't a director who's easy to pin down. The Moroccan-born director made her feature debut with 2006's Something New, a romantic comedy about a successful black woman who surprises herself when she falls for a white landscaper, tackling race issues in a way few romances ever dare to touch. She followed it up with the bright and bouncy, and totally apolitical sequel Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, and you might be tempted to think she's back tackling issues of race and romance with Just Wright, a romantic comedy Cinderella story starring Queen Latifah as a middle-class physical therapist who slowly falls for the star NBA player (Common) who becomes her patient.
But one of the many pleasant surprises about Just Wright is that it's simply a mainstream romantic comedy that happens to be about black characters, with no political ax to grind or anything that would keep audiences of any race from enjoying it. Oh, and the fact that much of it is set on a basketball court? Don't worry about that either-- Hamri swears that the film isn't about anything but love and friendship. In an exclusive interview last weekend we talked about her goals in making the film, her experience tackling the challenge of filming basketball games, and how she collaborated with producer and star Queen Latifah. Check out everything she had to say, and her appreciation of a good pun, in the 10-minute interview below. Just Wright opens wide this Friday.
