If you eat, drink, and breath NBA basketball, you’d probably expect UNCLE DREW is made specifically for you. That would be the reasonable expectation, as you get to see some legendary basketball players in silly outfits, along with NBA cameos and 4th wall breaking jokes. And for the first 2 minutes, that’s exactly what you get, with Steve Nash and Dikembe Mutombo making quick appearances in a mock 30-for-30 style documentary. But that soon fades, and you are left with Lil Rel Howery as “Dax” taking up the first 15 minutes of the film before its titular character is even seen. It soon becomes clear that Lil Rel is the real main character of this film, and director Charles Stone III is more interested in making a MR. 3000 than he is POPSTAR: NEVER STOP NEVER STOPPING.
While there are a few cameos past the opening exposition – Scott Van Pelt and Aaron Gordon get some decent screen time – don’t expect much in the middle. The reason I stress how valuable these cameos are isn’t because I prefer pandering to a real movie, but because these cameos get all the best jokes. University of Kentucky coach John Calipari trying to recruit Uncle Drew with former Blue Devil Kyrie Irving delivering the punchline, or Jerry West talking about the logo ended up being the most amusing lines. Without these quick punchlines, the movie is banking on the comedy chops of Chris Webber and Reggie Miller, who are, as a reminder, basketball players – not comedians.
Surprisingly none of the athletes struggle in their roles. While their old people accents may not be superb, hats off the makeup department that also allows their aging to look very real and cover up any bad acting. Every athlete comes out of this without embarrassing himself, and Aaron Gordon was the best of the bunch, making me question if he was an actor or not at first (but that may just be because of how irrelevant the Orlando Magic are).
Overall, if you are a fan of the feel-good sports comedy movies from yesteryear, that’s what you should be expecting as a Charles Stone III film. There are some passable laughs as Shaq’s ever glowing charisma elevates the film. But there are also some unremarkable clichés, like Erica Ask solely existing for Lil Rel to have a girl to kiss during the inevitably triumphant climax. If you were expecting the next SPACE JAM, you might have to wait for LeBron.
