June 9, 2022
Stanley Sugermen (Adam Sandler) had been the talent scout for the Philadelphia 76'ers for several years. Always out on the road somewhere tracking down promising young basketball players, he had been neglecting his wife Teresa (Queen Latifah) and teenage daughter Alex (Jordan Hull). His brief promotion as assistant coach was cut short when the new owner of the 76'ers, Vince Merrick (Ben Foster), sent him out on the road to scout again.
While in Spain, Stanley caught a game at a neighborhood court and marveled at the skills of a tall young player with intense eyes, a poor construction worker named Bo Cruz (Juancho Hernangomez). Stanley convinced Bo to leave his mother Paola (Maria Botto) and little daughter Lucia (Ainhoa Pillet) and go with him to the States for a sure shot at an NBA stint. However, Stanley's grand plans for Bo did not go as smoothly as they would like.
This was a sports drama film, so more or less it followed the formula of all sports drama films before it. Success was elusive for a talented but troubled player who faced multiple obstacles. Then along comes a dedicated mentor who would direct him along the winning path. You can see the third act happening from the get-go, as well as the training montage. However in this case, even the mentor also had past and present troubles to overcome.
After his recent brush with critical acclaim for "Uncut Gems" (2019), Adam Sandler is back with another dramatic role which can really make you stop and pay attention. This was not as dark as "Uncut," so he was able to infuse his familiar man-child style of humor more here. While basketball was in the backdrop of "Uncut," basketball was front and center here. You can feel Sandler's passionate love for basketball here, can't fake something like that.
Best of all, it was amazing that most of the cast were actually NBA players. Playing the lead role of Bo Cruz is power forward Juancho Hernangomez, currently with the Utah Jazz, in a promising feature film debut. Anthony Edwards, shooting guard of the Minnesota Timberwolves, played the antagonistic Kermit Wilts, whose trash-talk got under Bo's skin. Former NBA point guard Kenny Smith played sports agent and Stanley's friend Leon Rich.
On top of that, there were so many cameos of past and present NBA stars, led by Dr. J himself, Julius Erving. You will see real 76'ers like coach Doc Rivers, Tobias Harris and Tyrese Maxey, Boban Marjanovic (in the hilarious opening scene), Dirk Novitzki, Charles Barkley, Shaquille O'Neal, Allen Iverson, Kyle Lowry, Jordan Clarkson, etc. There was also a reference to fellow Philadelphian Rocky Balboa whose film was the watershed of this subgenre. 8/10.
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