The “White Men Can’t Jump: The Musical” Storyline in ‘Girls’ Is More Memorable Than the 2023 Hulu Remake

Calmatic’s remake of the 1992 sports comedy White Men Can’t Jump is a foul according to a majority of critics who had access to the flick prior to its Hulu premiere. Many say the new movie, starring Sinqua Walls and Jack Harlow with a screenplay by Kenya Barris and Doug Hall, does little to add to the narrative and fails to build chemistry between the basketeers. To further fan the flame, the director was also responsible for the recent remake of House Party, which garnered a similar response.

As the White Men Can’t Jump remake seemingly pales in comparison to its predecessor, it’s time to look back on an homage to the original that was a total slam dunk. May I remind you of White Men Can’t Jump: The Musical from the sixth season of the HBO hit Girls?

Now, don’t get me wrong. The final season of the popular series is quite divisive, but that’s expected for a show that people loved to hate-watch. The girlies are annoying and oftentimes unrelatable, unless at their lowest moments. The show felt like a harsh look in a mirror to some, and to others, it was like being stuck in a broken subway car at 3am with your loud, drunk friend who’s arguing about something meaningless while also professing their love for you. Meandering and annoying, but also, like… we’ve all been there? 

Created by Lena Dunham, the comedy-drama followed a group of four young women, most of which were extremely privileged and well-off, living in New York City. The series was inspired by Dunham’s life and she portrayed the lead character Hannah Horvath. Alongside Dunham, Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke and Zosia Mamet starred, with Adam Driver and Andrew Rannells making recurring appearances over the six seasons.

Rannells stepped into the role of Elijah, Hannah’s college ex-boyfriend who later comes out as gay. At first, the two have a rocky relationship but eventually, they become roommates and confidants. He is also a struggling performer without a steady job – that is until the final season when he books an audition for a workshop of a musical adaptation of White Men Can’t Jump. 

Towards the end of the season, in Episode 7 “The Bounce,” Elijah has a hilarious audition sequence for the new work and Rannells finally gets to show off his pipes. The character effortlessly belts “Let Me Be Your Star” from NBC’s Smash during the fictional audition, but he loses his footing when it comes to the dance portion, which features choreographed moves with basketballs. Elijah has already proven himself to be a flimsy dancer, but his skill set is further challenged when he is required to artfully dribble. Later in the audition, he accidentally hits another dancer in the face when passing the ball and resigns himself to failure. But balls-in-the-face won’t keep him down as at the tail end of the episode, the character gets a callback from the casting team, saying, “You really can’t dance for shit, but we don’t care. You have an element – this essence. We’d like for you to come in and read for our producers.” Another casting person adds, “Just read the scene, no balls.”

Elijah’s dream comes to fruition as his parting words in the show, noted by Vanity Fair to be “​​the best final line” of them all,  are “I got it. I got the part in White Men Can’t Jump the fucking musical spectacular, you feckless whores. Hannah, I will see you at home tomorrow roughly at noon, when I’m through partying this out. Eat a dick.” Spoken like a true Shakespearean.

When the episode was released, Rannells revealed that the storyline was based on a real-life audition of his, which he had shared with Dunham. While auditioning for the musical Lysistrata Jones, the Broadway star was made to show off a few basketball movies. The Girls5Eva actor told IndieWire in 2017, “It was a dance call where, in the middle of the day, they introduced basketball, and I was like, ‘Wait, what the fuck’s happening?'” He continued, “Everybody could do it. Everybody had these secret basketball skills, except for me. And it was the most terrifying audition of my life. So I told Lena this story, and then lo and behold, it showed up in the episode.” Rannells jokingly called the recreation “a special kind of hell.”

Over six years later, people are still talking about the storyline. “Thinking about when Elijah auditions for ‘White Men Can’t Jump: The Musical’ on Girls. 10/10 use of Andrew Rannells, no notes,” wrote one Twitter user back in March. Last year, another penned, “Every once in a while I remember that in the final season of Girls, Elijah was in ‘White Men Can’t Jump: The Musical’ and what a great joke that is.”

Not only was the storyline a memorable play on the 1992 movie (which is more than we can say for this remake) but it also cemented itself greatly in Girls history. At the end of the series, SheKnow’s Allie Gemmill ranked Elijah’s storyline as #5 on her list of the character endings among the seven key players on the show, cementing Elijah above Marnie (Williams), Adam (Driver) and Hannah. So, if the 2023 renaissance of the show hasn’t already gotten you, this may be your sign for a rewatch.