The rare sports movie with no sports
Ben Affleck made a decision early on never to show the actor playing Michael Jordan straight-on, and never to recreate a single basketball game. We only see Jordan from the back of the head or in real 1984 archival clips. That choice works because Michael Jordan wasn't the one negotiating the deal—his parents were.
The emotional spine of the movie belongs to Viola Davis as Deloris Jordan. While the guys in Beaverton, Oregon are sweating through their polyester shirts and eating fast food in fluorescent-lit offices, she calmly dictates the future of sports marketing from her backyard in North Carolina. When she tells Sonny Vaccaro that "a shoe is just a shoe until my son steps into it," the whole movie clicks into place.
How it lands with kids and teens
If you have a kid who treats StockX like the Wall Street Journal or can identify a Jordan 1 colorway from across a crowded gym, they will eat this up. Peter Moore (played with infectious glee by Matthewillard) designing the original red-and-black sneaker in a cramped workshop—and calculating exactly how much the NBA will fine them per game for breaking the uniform color rules—is pure candy for sneakerheads.
If your kid is 9 and wants Space Jam or Hoosiers, skip it. This is a talky movie in the vein of Moneyball or The Social Network. The action scenes are phone calls between Matt Damon and sports agent David Falk (Chris Messina, having the time of his life yelling obscenities into a corded receiver). It's funny, sharp, and moves fast, fueled by an relentlessly loud 1984 synth-pop soundtrack.
