Lionsgate went hard with all of their video promoting of Uncle Drew over the past few months. There’s no doubt that the onslaught of comical clips raised a few eyebrows. I even fell into the trap of being intrigued and curious as to how a movie based on a seemingly silly premise would stand up in a feature length movie. Sometimes it’s just funny how the ball bounces.
Dax (Lil Rel Howery) has it all figured out as to how he’s going to succeed, get paid and exact revenge on an old nemesis. As often happens, even the best laid out plans can end up blowing up in your face. Dax learns this lesson when his meal ticket that he was depending on to help win a street basketball tournament at the storied Rucker Park in Harlem blows up in his face. When his best player, Casper (Aaron Gordon) goes off to play with Dax’s longtime hated enemy, Mookie (Nick Kroll), all seems to be lost. Instead, Dax tracks down a rumored legend known as Uncle Drew (Kyrie Irving) and leans on his ageless skills, connections and wisdom to give his newly complied team of well-seasoned seniors a fighting chance in this tournament of youngbloods. Dax could stand to learn a thing or two from the wisdom of those who’ve been there and had their own missteps along the way.
Uncle Drew will appeal mostly to those that appreciate the game of basketball and the legacy that follows. From a comedy standpoint, Lil Rel Howery, Nick Kroll and Tiffany Haddish do a decent job being silly on the screen, although Haddish’s character wasn’t as entertaining as some of her other performances. The athlete-actors weren’t the liability that most would have assumed. Kyrie Irving, Chris Webber, Lisa Leslie, Reggie Miller, Shaquille O’Neal and Nate Robinson have nothing to hand their heads about. They all seemed pretty comfortable out there. You have to remember, many athletes are young at heart since they’re playing games they’ve loved ever since they were little. And it shows here.
In a movie driven by athletes, the “acting” ends up being pretty passable. Sure, these mostly retired NBA players have spent the majority of their careers on a basketball court in front of a dozen cameras and tens of thousands of fans, but doing it in an orchestrated fashion for a movie is something entirely different. Uncle Drew allows these…ummmm…elderly men and a woman to be get comfortable in their old stomping ground while also allowing them to have more fun than they’re used to on a court.
Uncle Drew is a surprisingly fun comedy that hides a sincere message of well-being inside a ball of silliness. There are a few positive life lessons to be taken away here, but the biggest lesson of all is to just have fun. That’s all audiences should worry about when going to see this comedy. And the footage during the credits may be some of the film’s funniest elements so be sure to stick around for that. You can check it out in theaters this weekend.
