Review: More Than a Game (2008)

[Michael Dequina]

_More_Than_a_Game_ (PG) *** 1/2 (out of ****)

         The title _More_Than_a_Game_ is more 
than a little cliche, and the most basic summary 
of this documentary's premise does little to 
refute that initial impression: the story of five 
inner city youths who forge something beyond 
friendship while pursuing their high school hoop 
dreams.  But the journey of the "Fab Five" who 
made up the core of the St. Vincent-St. Mary 
basketball team in Akron, Ohio earlier in the 
decade is not exactly your average sports saga, 
filled with extraordinary characters and equally 
extraordinary circumstances that Hollywood could 
craft no better in any feature script.  Any 
filmmaker blessed with such serendipitous 
narrative riches would be content to simply 
recount the not-so-tall tale, but director 
Kristopher Belman takes it an added step: 
bringing the larger-than-life back down to a universally relatable scale.

         Figures hardly come more 
larger-than-life than LeBron James, the Fighting 
Irish alum who (as the world over has come to 
know) first caught national sports media 
attention during his high school stint and has 
since become one of most celebrated and 
recognizable stars in all of sports, let alone in 
basketball.  With the knowledge of James's 
ultimate NBA fairy tale fate, the temptation 
would be to focus the film solely on his rise, 
but his story is duly treated as but one of the 
threads borne out of what was originally the "Fab 
Four"--James, "Little" Dru Joyce III, Willie 
McGee, and Sian Cotton, whom we see in some rare 
home video honing their individual skills and 
team chemistry from way back when they were 
pre-teens.  Playing in the Amateur Athletic 
Union, the quartet lived up to the "Shooting 
Stars" team name, building on their local Ohio 
successes to shock observers in a national 
tournament down in Florida; however, the four's 
first taste of national success will turn out to 
be just shy of complete victory.

         And, like most lives, that bittersweet 
experience reflects the greater journeys followed 
in _More_Than_a_Game_.  Given the presence of 
James, one expects this to be a film full of 
triumphs, but what make those resonate even more 
strongly in the end are the relatable setbacks, 
obstacles, and shake-ups that occur along the 
way.  In fact, falling into that last category 
are two people who will come to complete the 
"fab" family and help lift the entire unit to new 
heights, Romeo Travis and "Little Dru"'s father, 
Dru Joyce II.  But long before those heights, 
each initially enters the basketball picture 
under less than ideal circumstances: Travis in 
sophomore year at St. Vincent-St. Mary's, where 
his surly demeanor quickly clashes with the core 
quartet, who had just led the school to a 
championship the previous season; Joyce II in 
junior year, who takes over the head coaching 
position from a decorated predecessor despite 
minimal experience.  How the four manage to 
evolve into a "Fab Five" and, above all else, a 
family of six headed by Coach Dru proves not so 
much a result of their hard work on the hardwood 
than of the growth they each must undergo as people.

         The film's structure reinforces that 
latter point.  Instead of going the standard 
route of going through each person's background 
at the top, Belman gives the individual histories 
at appropriate, organic moments within the 
overall narrative.  While this approach does mean 
that some events early in the film unfold without 
a complete familiarity with or understanding of 
all of the players, spreading the stories out 
pays off in a couple of respects.  Instead of 
blurring into a muddle, it allows each person to 
have their time to shine and their respective 
stories breathe and remain clear to the 
viewer.  But even more effectively, the 
backstories are used beyond mere exposition to 
illuminate certain key events that affect the 
group as a whole--further underscoring the 
greater idea of how various circumstances 
seemingly centered on one person can cause 
repercussions for the collective.  Chief among 
these developments, of course, is the hysteria 
and hype that arises around James after he is 
featured on the cover of _Sports_Illustrated_, 
suddenly catapulting midwestern high school hoops 
into a nationally televised arena.  The film 
admirably does not downplay any of the 
well-documented dramas and tensions that then 
sprung forth from James's literally overnight 
fame, but instead of wallowing in sensational 
celebrity scandal, Belman keeps these 
developments in their proper perspective in 
regards to the bigger picture: how they affected 
the entire group and what they all aimed to accomplish.

         That is an example of how and why 
_More_Than_a_Game_ works--showing the grounded, 
real-life terms and consequences of an 
increasingly surreal chain of events.  Only a 
select few people can completely relate to being 
blessed with natural athletic ability and talent 
at such a young age; even fewer still would 
relate to being suddenly thrust into the media 
spotlight and scrutiny.  But underneath that 
gloss and glamour is the classic tale of boys 
growing into men, of people learning the 
importance of the greater group glory over the 
individual shine, with the distinctly drawn 
personalities of each of the five offering a 
fairly diverse set of entry points for the viewer 
to understand and relate.  Ironically enough, in 
balancing his attention between everyone on the 
team, Belman offers deeper, uncommonly intimate 
insight into the film's marquee name; one is a 
witness what is perhaps James's most critical, 
formative period through the eyes of those who 
not only knew him best, but had a huge hand in 
shaping the superstar "King James" so familiar to 
sports fans today.  But if 
lifting-oneself-from-a-hard-knock-childhood-through-big-dreams 
is fairly commonplace film fodder, 
_More_Than_a_Game_'s trump card comes in an arc 
that is not as commonly told and even more 
empowering: the story of Coach Joyce, as the film 
is just as much about him coming into his 
own.  If James's story confirms the prevailing 
contemporary notion that one's opportunity for 
success comes--and then passes--only while one is 
young, that of the elder Dru rather poignantly 
counters that, proving that one does not have to 
settle for comfort and complacency, for one's 
true calling and self-actualization may not arrive until later in life.

         That statement may make _More_Than 
_a_Game_ sound pretentious, but such weightier 
ideas are delivered in a very accessible and 
entertaining package.  The Fab Five make an 
affable and appealing, funny and fun group, and 
Belman accordingly has fun, fighting the trap of 
talking head-and-news-clip documentary monotony 
and keeping the film visually dynamic. Beyond 
some snazzy (but not overdone) graphic work that 
gives the documentary staples of old photos and 
newspaper headlines some motion and flair, Belman 
also manages to lend some variety to the 
basketball footage, with each pivotal game edited 
and presented in their own subtly distinct way; 
for instance, some visual repetitiveness is 
avoided by simply not shooting scoreboards in the 
same way.  Belman even has a little fun with the 
standard closing "where are they now" text cards 
without resorting to overwrought editorializing or labored stabs at profundity.

         While it certainly helps to be familiar 
with the game of basketball and a fan of the 
sport to enjoy _More_Than_a_Game_, it is far from 
necessary.  Basketball is what brought the Fab 
Five and Coach Dru together and was and remains a 
shared passion, but the game is almost incidental 
to the larger idea: not only that those from not 
exactly the most privileged of backgrounds can 
indeed dream and succeed, but that one doesn't 
necessarily do it by oneself.  Not looking out 
for number one but instead always looking out for 
each other is what made Coach Joyce and the Fab 
Five what they were as a team, who they have 
become as people today--and why their story and 
this film are so richly moving and inspirational.


(c)2009 Michael Dequina


Michael Dequina
mrbrown at iname.com
The Movie Report/Mr. Brown's Movie Site: www.themoviereport.com
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Michael Dequina
A-Frame Studios
twotrey at gmail.com | michael at aframestudios.com | mrbrown at themoviereport.com
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