5.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
After draining his life savings to enter a team in the Rucker Classic street ball tournament in Harlem, Dax (Lil Rel Howery) is dealt a series of unfortunate setbacks, including losing his team to his longtime rival (Nick Kroll). Desperate to win the tournament and the cash prize, Dax stumbles upon the man, the myth, the legend UNCLE DREW (NBA All-Star Kyrie Irving) and convinces him to return to the court one more time. The two men embark on a road trip to round up Drew's old basketball squad (Shaquille O'Neal, Chris Webber, Reggie Miller, Nate Robinson, and Lisa Leslie) and prove that a group of septuagenarians can still win the big one.
Starring: Kyrie Irving, Shaquille O'Neal, Reggie Miller, Chris Webber, Lisa LeslieComedy | 100% |
Sport | 37% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 2.0
English, English SDH, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Digital copy
DVD copy
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
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.
Uncle Drew is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer 1.85:1. The closing credits for the film kindly list the Red Camera as having digitally captured the imagery, and as with virtually all Red shot features, Uncle Drew offers a sharp, precise looking image that offers consistently high detail levels across the board, not always to the film's benefit. One of the major issues I had was with regard to the makeup for the supposed "elders", which is almost cartoonishly bad. Shaq in fact kind of looks like an elderly version of Frankenstein's monster (Blackenstein?) combined with an AARP version of Wolverine. The other middle aged guys made up to look like elders also suffer to varying degrees, and the "seams" of some of the makeup can easily be spotted. Otherwise, though, this presentation is enjoyably detailed, and while the palette isn't overly candy colored, it pops quite brightly in terms of elements like the orange basketball outfits and some of Tiffany Haddish's bling. There are a few isolated nighttime or dimly lit moments that don't offer a ton of detail, but these are passing deficits that aren't overly problematic.
Uncle Drew is virtually stuffed to its veritable gills with a glut of source cues, and the Dolby Atmos track spreads the thumping bass lines and pounding kick drums around the surround channels quite effectively. Game sequences also bristle with crowd noise and some appealing "other" thumps of balls being dribbled energetically. There are quite a few scenes with several characters talking simultaneously, and smart directionality helps to separate and clarity what might otherwise be confusing moments. In more "well regulated" dialogue scenes, all elements are offered cleanly and clearly. Fidelity is great throughout and dynamic range extremely wide on this very enjoyable if kind of relentlessly vigorous track.
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.
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