Shooting Stars

Four boys grow up on the same basketball team in Akron and decide to stay together, keeping the group intact even when it comes to choosing a high school. One of them is LeBron James, and the film follows them from 1994 to 2003, the year their team finished number one in the country. Putting the group rather than the star at the centre is a good call. The best material belongs not to LeBron but to Lil Dru, dismissed constantly for his height. Mookie Cook plays the young LeBron and Dermot Mulroney the coach. Chris Robinson directed and it went out on Peacock on 2 June 2023. Its flaw is that everyone knows the outcome, so there is no tension, and the film never pushes anywhere uncomfortable. The money around high school basketball, the media pressure and the argument over amateurism are touched and left. What remains is a well meaning sports film that declines to go deeper. Who it is for: viewers who like sport and friendship stories. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a critical portrait.