Uncle Drew

“Uncle Drew does nothing behind the scenes to give actual opportunities to older actors.”

Title: Uncle Drew (2018)
Director: Charles Stone III 👨🏾🇺🇸
Writer: Jay Longino 👨🏼🇺🇸

Reviewed by Niesha Davis 👩🏾🇺🇸

Note: This review was commissioned by Lionsgate. The content and methodology remain 100% independent and in line with Mediaversity's non-commissioned reviews.

Technical: 3/5

Adapted from a series of Pepsi commercials starring NBA superstar Kyrie Irving, Uncle Drew is a light-hearted sports flick featuring Lil Rel Howery, Tiffany Haddish, and a who’s who of professional basketball players made up to play an elderly group of ballers of yesteryear. The plot is a simple underdog story that succeeds in showing Black men—and only the men—in a positive and emotional light.

The film opens with the backstory of Uncle Drew (Irving), a streetball legend who quit the game decades prior, right before what was to be a life-changing Rucker Classic game. His retrospective comes complete with real life sports legends, like Brooklyn Nets head coach Steve Nash, detailing his legendary status in the world of streetball. Word has it that Uncle Drew was so iconic that he once dunked on his opponent with one hand, while holding a ham sandwich in the other.

Rounding out the rest of the main characters, Lil Rel Howery plays Dax, a basketball enthusiast and Foot Locker employee still upset over losing a basketball game as a preteen to Mookie (Nick Kroll), his arch nemesis who has bullied him since childhood. Hoping to gain redemption and win $100,000, Dax now coaches an amateur basketball team to compete in the Rucker Classic Tournament. Though he’s long since given up playing ball himself, his love for the game stands strong. Ultimately, however, predictable writing keeps these characters from seeing too much development.

Gender: 2/5
Does it pass the Bechdel Test? NOPE

A sausage fest with a heart of gold, Uncle Drew features just three women, each of whom receives very little in the way of character development or depth. Haddish reunites with her former The Carmichael Show co-star Howery as she plays Dax’s girlfriend Jess and features prominently in the trailer. But she winds up being just a shallow designer-label lover who exists only as someone Dax must prove himself to. Haddish makes do with the thin script and manages to make her few one-liners funny, but it feels more like a stand-up routine than a full-fleshed character.

The only other real female presence in the film is Maya (Erica Ashe), the granddaughter of Boots (retired basketball player Nate Robinson). Aside from her role as her grandfather’s caretaker, Maya, too, has no backstory and her only function is to support male characters as they heal old wounds and find themselves again.

Former WNBA legend Lisa Leslie makes a cameo as Betty Lou, the overbearing wife of Preacher (former NBA player Chris Webber.) While the former male basketball players are given ample screen time to show what they can do, Leslie’s character isn’t given the same treatment. Uncle Drew certainly wins points for portraying Black manhood in a positive light, but by creating multiple one-dimensional female characters, the filmmakers uphold the sexist view that it’s okay for women to be nothing more than stereotypes and supporting players.

Race: 3.5/5

Make no mistake, Uncle Drew is a Black movie through and through. But it uses a shallow interpretation of race, never explicitly showing experiences specific to Black men.

In addition, the film unfortunately aligns with a common trope. A 2019 study conducted by the Geena Davis Institute found that 57% of Black women leads in popular movies sport hairstyles that conform to European standards of beauty rather than natural hairstyles. While all three of the more prominent female characters are medium-to-dark in skin tone, a welcome change from the usual light-skinned love interests or female protagonists seen in Hollywood, they all share a slim body type as well as straightened hairstyles that mimic those of white women.

Mookie, the film’s villain, serves as the only real portrayal of white Americans in the film (unless you count Uncle Drew’s tendency to quote NHL star Wayne Gretzky.) Mookie appears to have grown up in Black American culture evidenced by his crew of all Black friends and an urban style of dress, complete with tattoos and an oversized gold chain. Kroll does a good job of getting this across without putting on an offensive blaccent or turning his role into a caricature.

Meanwhile, Latinx, Asian, and other non-Black people are missing from the narrative altogether, an interesting choice for a film set in Central/West Harlem where about a third of residents identify as Hispanic.

Bonus for Age: +0.00

Uncle Drew showcases a multitude of characters over the age of 70 in non-traditional roles and situations. Besides Dax, who appears to be in his mid-30s, the other male leads are supposed to be elders. Shaquille O’Neal brings a pensiveness and warmth to the role of Big Fella, not an easy feat considering the formulaic material the actors are working with. But for a film that supposedly centers this age group, there weren’t a whole lot of actual elders around.

In fact, at the time of filming, none of the main cast members of Uncle Drew were over 50 years old. When J.B. Smoove plays the fast-talking barber Angelo, this would have been a great time to cast authentically instead of making him up to look “elderly.” Same goes for fellow barber Louis (Mike Epps). Though both actors were in their late 40s and early 50s at the time of release, they were still dressed up to play men 15-20 years older than themselves.

Hollywood continues to prioritize actors younger than 45. Even with its non-stereotypical characters, Uncle Drew does nothing behind the scenes to give actual opportunities to older actors.

Mediaversity Grade: C- 2.83/5

A lighthearted film that makes no major waves, good or bad, Uncle Drew presents an underdog story that happens to star Black people. While women and other underrepresented groups aren’t given major screen time or backstories, thanks to the flimsy script, neither are any of the major players.

Like Uncle Drew? Try these other titles featuring sports.

Grade: CLiJune 29, 2018