Uncle Drew’s journey from the hardcourt to the silver screen has been an unlikely one. Kyrie Irving’s legendary septuagenarian baller was first seen schooling unsuspecting youngsters in a series of Pepsi ads back in 2012, which quickly went viral. Fast forward a few years later and the fun concept has been expanded into a feature, and while it thankfully isn’t the product placement hell it surely could have been, you will be able to call all the plays long before the film half-heartedly executes them.
An amusing mock ESPN 30-for-30 opening reveals how Uncle Drew earned his mythical status before we’re introduced to Dax (Get Out’s Howery), a down-on-his-luck Foot Locker employee and basketball coach who loses his girlfriend and his team to his rival Mookie (Nick Kroll, relishing his villainous role) on the eve of the annual Rucker Park tournament. It isn’t long before he’s befriended Drew, however, and the old legend quickly sets about recruiting the teammates he used to rule the court with. That includes kung fu instructor Big Fella (Shaquille O’Neal), Preacher (Chris Webber), legally blind Lights (Reggie Miller), and wheelchair-bound Boots (Nate Robinson, impressively articulating much with no dialogue).
Every underdog sports cliché is present and accounted for in Howery's protagonist.
Of that motley crew, it’s easily Webber who disappears into his role the most. His Preacher is not dissimilar to Coming To America’s Randy Watson and he’s all the more hilarious for it, an introductory scene in which he half-dunks a baby proving to be an early highlight. Uncle Drew’s other big laugh comes in the almost obligatory dance-off, which exudes the easy chemistry and likability between the crotchety old friends that’s prevalent throughout.
Indeed, although the gravelly voices they all put on are constantly breaking, Irving and his fellow ballers acquit themselves well. It’s just that Jay Longino’s predictable, lacklustre screenplay doesn’t give them much to do. Instead, the emotional arc of the movie is given to Dax, and it’s a mixed bag. Howery is easy to root for, but every underdog sports cliché is present and accounted for within his protagonist. It doesn’t help that the women our hero is pining for are written as little more than prizes to be won, though Tiffany Haddish deserves credit for eking every sliver of comedy out of her gold-digging girlfriend.
As for the basketball itself, lovers of the game will doubtless get a kick out of seeing Drew and co easily best “youngbloods”, but — save for a climactic final match that works about as well as it could have — the lack of stakes often means these scenes don’t have the energy they sorely need. Even a sports comedy with as goofy a premise should be more satisfying than this.
