Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.0

Uncle Drew 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman September 25, 2018

Barbershop offered a sweet if kinda sorta dysfunctional look at a mainstay of some African American neighborhoods, and in the Barbershop Blu-ray review I mentioned how hard it was for me personally to think of another commercial establishment that provided the same sort of community feeling for other ethnicities that barbershops seemed to for black males. While it’s obviously not a commercial establishment, and the “community” is often rife with a boisterous competitive spirit, “street basketball” is shown in Uncle Drew to have many of the same community aspects that going to the nearest tonsorial parlor is shown to in the earlier film. Uncle Drew follows in the wake of many a sports underdog movie, and in that regard, it is completely predictable, down to a feel good ending that suggests if only you try hard enough, you’re bound to succeed. What sets Uncle Drew at least partially apart from some of its sport movie siblings is its emphasis on the so-called Rucker Classic, a tournament held in the upper reaches of Manhattan in Rucker Park, as well as the fact that the players on the underdog team are all putatively senior citizens (courtesy of at times pretty haphazard looking makeup). Featuring a bevy of basketball superstars like Kyrie Irving, Shaquille O’Neal, Chris Webber, Reggie Miller and Nate Robinson, Uncle Drew benefits from playfulness both on and off the court, but it can’t quite overcome a rote feeling of “been there, seen that”, despite a surplus of heart and occasional raucous humor.

As Variety detailed in a February 2017 report, Uncle Drew actually grew out of a series of Pepsi Max commercials that featured Kyrie Irving as the titular Uncle Drew, a pickup basketball player who, despite being well into his “AARP years”, still managed to outplay kids maybe a third or even fourth of his supposed age, victories “enhanced” by Drew’s nuggets of wisdom he was only too happy to pass on to “youngbloods”. Fashioning a 30 or 60 second spot out of such material was probably a walk in the park (basketball court equipped or otherwise), but trying to come up with an hour and half of such material may have been a bit of a challenge, judging by some of the unevenness of this enterprise.

Perhaps in order to help flesh things out, there’s a certain “road picture” aspect to Uncle Drew, as hangdog young man Dax (Lil Rel Howery) and Drew set out to find Drew’s old team from decades ago, with a plan to reunite and win the Rucker Tournament. Dax is on the hunt for a team due to the fact that his previous star player, Casper (Aaron Gordon), is stolen by Dax’s longtime nemesis Mookie (Nick Kroll), a guy who not so coincidentally also ended Dax’s perhaps fanciful dreams of becoming a National Basketball Association player himself back in their school days, when Mookie unexpectedly blocked a 3 pointer that Dax was getting ready to shoot and which would have won a championship game.

Dax is already coming off as something of a schlub, more or less whipped by his money grubbing girlfriend Jess (Tiffany Haddish), especially after she has to cover a huge debt at his Foot Locker employer when Dax is forced into buying the latest expensive sneaker for Casper and the rest of the team. When Mookie predictably steals Casper away about ten seconds after the shoe purchase, Jess isn’t shy about sending Dax packing as well, since she sees her potential winnings at Rucker going up in smoke, and it’s here that Uncle Drew kind of interestingly has Dax seek out a community for advice — at a barbershop, of course. It’s at this gathering spot that the legend of Uncle Drew (Kyrie Irving) is relayed, and almost as if by magic, Dax soon enough meets the icon at a neighborhood pickup court.

What becomes a rather interesting and maybe even melancholic subtext is that as Drew and Dax do in fact find and recruit Drew’s old teammates, elements of aging come into play. Some folks, like the ebullient (maybe even out of control) Preacher (Chris Webber) and dojo master Big Fella (Shaquille O’Neal), have energy to spare, but others, notably Boots (Nate Robinson) and Lights (Reggie Miller), are each suffering from the vagaries of old age. It’s not exactly Amour, if you catch my drift, but it’s a rather peculiar and ultimately at least fleetingly touching addition to a story that would otherwise play like the basketball equivalent of films like Rudy.

The formulaic aspects of Uncle Drew of course provide Dax with a new romantic interest to replace Jess, in this case Boots’ granddaughter Maya (Erica Ash), and there is some backstage drama involving Drew and Big Fella and a long ago slight which is alluded to in a kind of cheeky opening montage featuring a host of real life basketball superstars. But all’s well that ends well, as tends to be the case in films of this ilk, and Uncle Drew really doesn’t have any outsized ambitions in terms of what kind of entertainment it wants to provide. While the film is arguably a bit too noisy for its own good, some of the raucous humor lands relatively well, and all of the performers seem to be enjoying themselves immensely.

Uncle Drew 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots are sourced from the 1080p Blu-ray.

Uncle Drew is presented on 4K UHD courtesy of Lionsgate Films with a 2160p transfer in 1.85:1. As mentioned in our Uncle Drew Blu-ray review, Uncle Drew was digitally captured by Red Cameras (at source resolutions of up to 8K, according to the IMDb) and then finished at a 2K DI (again according to the IMDb). This is one of the nicer looking 2K uprezes that I've personally reviewed, even though there's not a ton of "wow" visuals in the film itself. Detail levels are noticeably improved, if subtly at times, with the opening "graininess" of the flashback material more pronounced in this version, but with later elements like the textures on fabrics of several costumes, or even the velour or velvet seats of Drew's van looking more palpable in this version. The issues I had with the makeup for the "elders" is unfortunately even more noticeable in this version, and I found it positively distracting at times (what are the weird "lumps" they added to several of the guys' faces?). The palette is really richly suffused throughout the presentation, even if, as I mentioned in the review of the 1080p Blu-ray, this is really not that much of a candy colored affair. But the nice interplay of oranges and yellows in Drew's van offers new highlights, and some of the other oranges, as in the basketball outfits, look just a bit more yellow in this version, perhaps courtesy of Dolby Vision's dynamic range tweakings. Fine detail is excellent across the board, and even some of the nighttime and/or dimly lit scenes show at least minimal improvement in shadow detail.

Uncle Drew 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

This release sports the same energetic Dolby Atmos track described in our Uncle Drew Blu-ray review.

Uncle Drew 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Lionsgate has commendably ported over all of the supplements detailed in our Uncle Drew Blu-ray review to this 4K UHD disc.

Uncle Drew 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Uncle Drew takes the "underdog team" trope and puts it through the AARP mill for some appealing vignettes, but the film is probably too rote and predictable for its own good. Some folks may be as distracted as I was by some of the less than believable "old age" makeup as well. That said, the film has a surplus of heart and quite a bit of the humor lands relatively well. Technical merits are solid for those considering a purchase, though I'm not sure that Uncle Drew's visuals really scream a need for a 4K UHD treatment.