Uncle Drew Appeals to Basketball Fans #movie_review

“We’re putting the team back together.” Basketball meets Blues Brothers in this funny sports movie.
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When Coach Dax (Lil Rel Howery) spends his life savings to enter the Rucker Classic basketball tournament, only to lose his star player and team, he seeks out a new team and finds a family. Uncle Drew (Kyrie Irving) is a mysterious former big name Rucker player who walked away on the eve of the big tournament, when he’s given a chance to make things right, he sets out to reunite his former team. 

​Dax’s life is in shreds. He’s afraid to play basketball after losing a big game when his shot gets blocked. Now he only coaches while working at Foot Locker. When he loses his team to the guy who blocked his shot, his girlfriend (Tiffany Haddish) leaves him and he’s kicked out of the house they share. Alone and homeless with all his belongings in a garbage bag, he has nothing to lose when he agrees to Drew’s terms as he creates a team. 

​Uncle Drew’s stuck in the 1970’s with old R&B music on his eight-track player inside his orange van with a boom-boom room in the back. His old team has changed over the years. Lights is now legally blind (but that doesn’t stop him from driving in a getaway scene!) to Boots who hasn’t walked or talked in years. But Drew and basketball has the magic which allows them to reclaim their passion and life. 

​Uncle Drew began as a Pepsi short/commercial which wowed viewers so much that Pepsi, decided to create a movie based on the characters. Using some of today’s best-known basketball players, Uncle Drew is a cute story about what’s important in life and families. From Shaq to Lisa Leslie and Reggie Miller, the stars wear full make-up to age them. Also featuring some “basketball” snips which only fans of the stars would get, from comments about missing time outs and Kobe, you will have to pay attention to catch them all. My favorite character was The Preacher (Chris Webber) who’s like a James Brown basketball star. 

​Fans of basketball are going to enjoy this movie more than others. But it does have some laugh out loud moments which will appeal to everyone. I enjoyed the way it felt like Blues Brothers from the Preacher and his wife, who didn’t want him to get back with the team to the way the group finds adventure along the way to the big event. While this movie is a fun romp, it’s not really one you have to see in the theater. Wait and catch it on TV or DVD.