By Patrick H. Detry
It’s not how you start the game. It’s how you finish
This movie has an excellent beginning, with the young boys laying in the den, like a sleep over, eating cereal, clowning around, playing video basketball game. It immediately shows the camaraderie and closeness of these young boys. There is young LeBron dunking in the video game, and that excitement, causes Sian, to spill his cereal. Enters father Dru, the father of young Dru, and the surrogate father of the boys and their coach, inquiring about the commotion. He tells them to clean up the mess, so that they can go play basketball at the Salvation Army. They do so very enthusiastically.
This immediately establishes their love of basketball, and their deep understanding of how good they are and will become. Along with the bond they have.
Coach Dru tell them that they will get to play at the top basketball school in their district. But at a price, putting Lil Dru on junior varsity team. They balk at that idea, because they want to play together on the varsity team. After all, they are the Fab Four, and nothing will separate them. So, they switch schools, joining the team at a predominantly white Catholic high school – St Vincent. Naturally, the community takes this as an insult, but the boys’ dedication to each other is more important than anything else.
With their new coach (Dermot Mulroney; August: Osage County), a disgraced former college coach seeking redemption of his own, the boys, along with former rival and new teammate Romeo Travis (newcomer Sterling “Scoot” Henderson), will face battles not only on the court but in real life, in their quest to become national champs, and will rediscover that what matters most about the game is the people playing beside you. Including their coach leaving for college and not informing them.
Adversity and jealousy rear its head, as LeBron talents starts to become more apparent, and his teammates start to feel envious and neglected. This includes his girlfriend.
Coach Dru, becomes the head coach and, also reminds them, after some falling out, growing pain, and losses what is most important – It’s not how you start the game is how you finish the game. And, most importantly, the friendship of each other. They overcome their growing pain, and become the winningest high school team in America, keep their friendship and become very successful in life. And, by the way, LeBron became a fairly good basketball player.
Shooting Stars – Streaming only on Peacock
Shooting Stars is directed by Emmy nominee Chris Robinson (Beats, Grown-ish). The film’s screenplay is by Frank E. Flowers (Metro Manila) and Tony Rettenmaier (Space Jam: A New Legacy) & Juel Taylor (Creed II), based on the book by James and Bissinger.
The film is produced by Academy Award® nominee Rachel Winter p.g.a. (Dallas Buyers Club), Spencer Beighley p.g.a. (executive producer Hustle), LeBron James, Maverick Carter (Space Jam: A New Legacy), Jamal Henderson (Executive Producer, The Shop) and Academy Award® nominee and Emmy winner Terence Winter (Boardwalk Empire). The film is executive produced by Gretel Twombly. Universal Pictures presents a Springhill Company/Tangerine Pictures/Cold Front Productions production.
