Reviews

Review: More Than a Game

More than a LeBron James showcase, too

By TOM MEEK | October 14, 2009

3.0 Stars

Most know about the rise of LeBron James from impoverished Ohio roots (fatherless and raised in public housing) to mega-millionaire and NBA phenom, so why make a documentary? Maybe because Kristopher Belman’s film doesn’t just showcase LeBron but relates how he and his posse of friends known as the “Fab Four” decided to attend a nearly all-white parochial school so their undersized buddy, Dru Joyce, could get a shot at playing. (Dru had no chance at the all-black inner-city school.)

At the age of 10, the boys lost the AAU national championship game but vowed to stick together to do something more — which turned out to be a shot at the national-high-school championship. More Than a Game re-creates these moments, and it’s especially effective in exploring the pressures on the boys and their fragile dreams. As they recount their struggles and fears and the bond of their friendship, the film becomes more than just a tribute to LeBron James.

Related: October lite, Sports Blotter: the King James version, Bonds away, More

October lite
We expected the vampires, the werewolves, the zombies, and the homicidal maniacs. Same thing with the android doubles, the alien abductors, the sexually abused pregnant teenager, the Apocalypse, and the post-Apocalypse. But kids' movies?
Sports Blotter: the King James version
In the most highly anticipated sports trial since the Marv Albert overbite case, Gloria James, mother of burgeoning NBA media supernova LeBron James, will finally face justice for her role in what has been hands down the most interesting sports DUI of the year.
Bonds away
This Barry Bonds thing is going to be a big story, no doubt, but trust me: even bigger news is probably coming.
America Blows
The United States of America is a nation with a proud history.
Crossword: ''That's B. S.''
At least it's broken up
Review: Whip It
Add a dash of the sad beauty contests and kooky, dysfunctional family of Little Miss Sunshine to a helping of the bogus hipness and overexposed star of Juno and whip it good and you get an idea of why Drew Barrymore's directorial debut falls flat as a sappy soufflé.
Game on
Dodgers win the Series! Bird plays H.O.R.S.E.! Congressman Canseco! We have seen the future of sports (and its name is Tony Graffanino).
Busting Balls: 20 ways to improve sports
College football is stupid. Everybody knows it.
Eight is enough
Sometimes we’d rather root for the unknowns, the underdogs, and the uniques than the professional jerks who are only competing to sweeten their endorsement deals.
95. Marko Jaric
Maybe Victoria’s Secret bombshells have a thing for goofy Serb point guards with eyes that are way closer to each other than they oughta be — but we don’t. With stats like Marko’s, this droopy-visaged Memphis Grizzlies scrub needs a lot more than Adriana Lima on his arm to escape the wrath of Unsexiness..
Review: Observe and Report
Jody Hill's ambiguous and unsettling film is a comedy about law enforcement in much the same way that Martin Scorsese's The King of Comedy is a comedy about comedy.
Less

Topics: Reviews , Celebrity News, Entertainment, Sports, More

Comments

Add a Comment

Today's Event Picks

[MUSIC] Darius Jones, Cooper-Moore, and Rakalam Bob Moses

Plus 2 more >>

-->

ARTICLES BY TOM MEEK

REVIEW: MORE THAN A GAME | October 14, 2009
Most know about the rise of LeBron James from impoverished Ohio roots (fatherless and raised in public housing) to mega-millionaire and NBA phenom, so why make a documentary?

INTERVIEW: COLIN BEAVAN | October 02, 2009
"In my twenties, I was really concerned with global warming. In my thirties, I was really focused on being a writer."

REVIEW: NO IMPACT MAN | September 30, 2009
As an eco-idealist living in New York City, Colin Beavan made a media splash when he declared that he and his family would live 100 percent green for a year.

REVIEW: I HOPE THEY SERVE BEER IN HELL | September 23, 2009
The mantra "What would Tucker do?" gets bandied about in this boys-gone-wild silliness from Bob Gosse.

ASSHOLES RULE | September 16, 2009
It seems that, these days, being a self-righteous boor is the new "in" thing.

See all articles by: TOM MEEK

Most Viewed

Most Emailed

HOW GAY IS SOUTHIE?
Welcome to the gayborhood.

LATTER DAY TAINT
Fifteen years ago, Glenn Beck was a small-market DJ with a drinking problem, no friends, and bleak professional prospects. Today, he’s a Fox News superstar averaging 2.4 million viewers, an inexorably successful author, and the leader of a popular movement that condemns government in general and President Barack Obama in particular.

REVIEW: WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE
I can’t speak for the kids, but I would rate Spike Jonze & Dave Eggers’s adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s 40-page children’s picture book up there with Up and Wall•E as topping the recent renaissance in children’s movies. If pressed, I’d rank it close to The Wizard of Oz .

THE FLAMING LIPS | EMBRYONIC
If new albums by Super Furry Animals, 50 Foot Wave, and the Flaming Lips are any indication, 2009 is smack in the middle of a new psychedelic age.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING ERNIE
Media feuds don’t come any nastier than the metastasizing spat between Boston Herald columnist Howie Carr and one “Ernie Boch III,” the pseudonymous blogger at the liberal Web site Blue Mass. Group. (Note: the blogger is no relation to the car dealer.)

HOW GAY IS SOUTHIE?
Welcome to the gayborhood.

KHAZEI, LIKE A FOX?
If there is to be a candidate in the Massachusetts US Senate race who inspires the sort of grassroots, progressive following that propelled Governor Deval Patrick into office three years ago — an insurgent candidacy, if you will — it figures to be idealistic public-service advocate Alan Khazei, co-founder of City Year and founder of Be the Change, Inc.

NEW HEAD SHOP SCORES NEAR BU
Here’s a new way to tell when college kids are back in Boston: shelves at the Joint — a new Comm Ave head shop near Packard’s Corner — resemble electronic-store aisles during the Los Angeles riots.

PUNJAB PALACE
Punjab Palace — by the same owners of Kenmore Square’s India Quality — “proves to be the kind of kid brother that would make any older sibling proud,” my colleague MC Slim JB wrote last year. That’s true, but this is also another second-tier Indian restaurant. So why do Slim and I like it so much?