If you’re into pro basketball, you likely know the story of Uncle Drew. If not, the long and short is this:

When Kyrie Irving was playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers, he decided to pull a prank. He dressed up as an old man… went to a neighborhood basketball court and schooled the kids on the court.

This experience/experiment turned into an ad campaign for Pepsi and now, Pepsi has turned the ad campaign into a movie.

Story: See above. Add to that, a community center basketball coach and Uncle Drew really is an old man who still has skills on the court. And while I find that unbelievable because I’m almost Uncle Drew’s age, it is entertaining.

More than that, Jay Longino has written a script that is predictable, but very entertaining. It’s a quest to get the old team back together to play one more game and win the Rucker Classic street ball tournament.

There’s no way we don’t know what happens at the end. No way. But it’s fun getting there… Good writing and story telling is not dead. Best scene: The dance-off…

Special mention also goes out for the casting. Just when you think you’ve met the most colorful character of the movie, here comes another firecracker blowing up in your face.

Characters: Of course, this film is a Who’s Who of pro basketball. Kyrie Irving, Shaquille O’Neal, Reggie Miller, Nate Robinson, Chris Webber and Lisa Leslie are the central characters… The Crew. Lil Rel Howery is Dax – the coach on a mission to avenge his past loss at the very same tournament at the hand of his rival, Mookie.

Special mention also goes to Nick Kroll who plays Mookie. For me, he steals the show. Only edging out by a hair the dynamic between Preacher and Betty Lou played by Chris Webber and Lisa Leslie. Hilarious…

And no film with Tiffany Haddish in it can escape comment on her performance. She’s one of those firecrackers who just keeps going… even after the Fourth of July is over…

Visual: So this film captures a few themes in old school vs. new school. They debate music from Uncle Drew’s day, which is the original version and the same music being sampled today, which the coach doesn’t know is not the original… more hilarious…

The wardrobe and style of the crew also reflects their history and all of this happens in a conversion van. If you don’t know what a conversion van is… GOOGLE IT! Classic 1970’s meets 2018…

Rating: Uncle Drew gets a solid A from me. I can admit I went into this thinking, “How could they possibly make something out of this…” But, I stand convinced.

I wasn’t disappointed by anything… I wasn’t left feeling like they omitted some element of the story… I got everything I wanted from this film and hope there will be another. Not sure how they’ll make that happen, but, Longino managed to create a story out of nothing for this go ‘round, soooo… why not keep going…

See Uncle Drew when it hits Netflix unless you get a special request to see it by one of the Executive Producers, with a report back about what you think… See above…

Fight the Power Lou… 🙂