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In 2012, NBA star Kyrie Irving teamed up with Pepsi to star in a series of videos about an old man who takes to the basketball courts and shows the young kids how it’s done. And in Uncle Drew, the big-screen adaptation of those PepsiMax commercials, he joins with some old friends to return to competition.
Uncle Drew follows Dax Winslow (Lil Rel Howery) as he tries to turn his life around by coaching a team in the Rucker Classic basketball tournament in Harlem and taking home the $100,000 prize. After losing a promising team to his longtime rival, Mookie (Nick Kroll), Dax convinces Rucker legend Uncle Drew (Irving) to play—but only if they can get his old team back together. So they set out on the road, traveling to churches and nursing homes, to reunite old friends and patch old wounds on their journey back to the court.
Of course, the main draw for this film is just the novelty of it all: NBA legends transforming themselves into septuagenarians and taking to the court for some hoops and some laughs. Beyond that, though, Uncle Drew isn’t a surprising film. Part road trip comedy and part inspirational sports drama, it fits neatly into all of the same old formulas. The conflicts feel forced and generally underwhelming, and it takes quite a bit longer than necessary to establish the story and get to the action.
It also isn’t an especially hilarious film. It has plenty of clueless old guy jokes and a bunch of gags about Dax’s height. It’s amusing but not outrageous, relying heavily on the quirkiness of the concept to keep the laughs coming.
Somehow, though, it still works. The personalities are silly, and their stories are even sillier—yet, despite the formulas and predictability and the ridiculousness of it all, it has enough charm and humor to carry it through. It’s a story about friendship and regret and the love of the game. And no matter how many times we’ve seen a story just like this one—the typical against-all-odds sports story—it’s still the kind of crowd-pleasing movie that will have audiences cheering on the underdogs before walking out of the theater with smiles on their faces.
Uncle Drew isn’t a brilliant movie, but it’s cute and quirky and entertaining. And for basketball fans, the novelty of the all-star cast in old-age makeup alone makes it worth checking out.
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Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it.
Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course.
As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com).
Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.
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Kristin Dreyer Kramer has been writing in some form or another (usually when she was supposed to be doing something else) since the ripe old age of ten—when she, her cousin, and their two Cabbage Patch Dolls formed the Poo Authors’ Club. After a short career in advertising, Kristin got sick of always saying nice things about stuff that didn’t deserve it—so now she spends her days criticizing things, and she’s much happier for it.
Since creating NightsAndWeekends.com in February of 2002, Kristin has spent her life surrounded by piles and piles of books and movies—so many that her office has become a kind of entertainment obstacle course.
As if her writing and editing responsibilities for N&W.com weren’t enough to keep her out of trouble, Kristin also hosts a number of weekly radio shows: Reel Discovery, Shelf Discovery, and On the Marquee. She’s also a proud member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association (CriticsChoice.com), the Central Ohio Film Critics Association (COFCA.org), the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS.org), and the Women Film Critics Circle (WFCC.Wordpress.com).
Kristin lives in Columbus, Ohio, with her husband, Paul, and their daughter, Anna. She welcomes questions, comments, and fan mail at kdk@nightsandweekends.com.
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