I’ve been an unabashed LeBron fan for twenty years. Growing up in Tampa we didn’t have a professional basketball team, at the time I didn’t have a connection with the Orlando Magic outside of a Honeycombs poster of Penny Hardaway and the Miami Heat weren’t a factor in my mind either so I chose a player to follow. I was in middle school when I saw the Sports Illustrated Chosen One cover and that was all she wrote.

Over the years what I’ve loved about LeBron is he’s very intentional in sharing the praise and focuses not just on himself but includes his friends around him. When Kobe had his documentary filmed by Spike Lee, James’ documentary More Than a Game was about the high school basketball team he’s been friends with for ten plus years.

This film feels like a continuation of that project. This is a cinematic re-telling of the events that made and shaped LeBron James.

It’s not a traditional biopic where they typically cover a person’s entire life with the highlights flashing throughout. Instead, the film is a snapshot of a time that made not just him, but his family and friends’ lives change forever.

It starts with a group of Black kids in the basement playing NBA Jams, we’re introduced with text overlaying the shot of who each kid is. There’s Lil Dru Joyce III, “Uncle” Willie McGee, Sian Cotton and of course LeBron.

Off the rip I have to give praise to the casting director. These actors feel like they’ve known each other forever. This scene feels lived in it’s almost like instead of watching a movie it’s like the camera invites you to just hang out as another friend.

Wood Harris plays Coach Dru, the parental figure who keeps the boys in check. He’s also the father of Lil Dru, the hothead of the group.

I’ve been a fan of Harris since Remember the Titans and to see his seamless transition from teen, to drug lord in The Wire and now as the OG giving young’uns the game it’s a beautiful thing to see.

Shooting Stars is a period film and the clothes give that authentic feel. They guys are Tommy Hillfigered and FUBU’d out. The costume director did they’re research. The actress playing Gloria James is rocking a 8-ball style jacket that’s perfect for the time period this set it.

I didn’t know how they were gonna handle the time period from 10 years old with the Fab Four all the way to their senior year with Romeo Travis in tow becoming the Fab Five but they nailed it.

It was very creative how they did the time jump.

Another favorite of mine was there’s Easter eggs for those in the know and as a LeBron fan I felt proud that I was able to pick up on some. The juxtaposition between 9-year-old LeBron telling Sian tattoos is stupid and 14-year-old LeBron getting his first tat in his momma’s house.

One of the moments in the film that stood out to me was the Junior season championship game. Up until this point the Fighting Irish are back-to-back champs winning as freshmen and earning their spot as the best team in the state. Now they have an opportunity to three-peat as state champs. The problem is the cracks are starting to show. The bond these boys have isn’t as strong as it’s always been.

This is shown perfectly with the player interviews scene. The Fab Five are telling the reporter all the right things but interspersed with their quotes are clips of them fighting at practice, LeBron distancing himself from the rest of the team and it all culminates in an on court blowup between the St V players. Sian voices how everyone is feeling in the lock room when he says, “this shit ain’t fun no more”

In a PG-13 movie there’s only an allowance for one f-bomb, I really enjoy seeing if films are gonna use it or not. The way this movie did it was absolute perfect and showed the angry and resentment that finally boiled over in the middle of the game.

Same in real life St Vincent St Mary’s lost their chance to make history losing to Roger Bacon.

Now they’re seniors and it’s the last season to all play together.

Another thing I really love about this movie is its honesty. With LeBron’s production company SpringHill putting up the money for it I worried they’d give a sanitized look at his life. Instead we see real to life teenagers who curse, drink before legal age, sneak out to parties and it gives the film more credibility.

There’s a sense of rawness that is conveyed and it’s a testament to the people in front and behind the cameras who made this movie possible.

One of my favorite character arcs is Lil Dru. Like me he was undersized and made fun of for his height. Though underestimated, his confidence in himself and his ability lead to him orchestrating the Fab Four forgoing the Black school and convincing everyone to take the risk at St Vincent St Mary’s to play as a unit.

First he impresses the new coach who played D1 ball even against the original Fab Five from Michigan consisting of NBA stars Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard and Basketball Hall of Famer Chris Webber. He then goes to his boys and tells them the only way they get to be able to all play together is if they go to the catholic school. Lastly he faces his dad, explaining the chance they all have to fulfill Coach’s prophecy that they can do something real special one day.

He plays his heart art with the swagger and confidence of someone twice his size. He leads the comeback against their biggest rival Buchtel and even has Coach Dambrot recruit him to go play D1 ball at Akron University. 

Early in the film we see everybody give Willis his respect, he was known as the best player in his age group before LeBron really bursted on the scene. This isn’t pushed aside or ignored, the screenwriters show the envy from the team when LeBron makes his ascent. Dru is angry at the table when Coach is taking calls from Sports Illustrated in the middle of dinner, Willie seeing LeBron being deemed the “Chosen One” at 16 while his skills aren’t being highlighted.

“When we was kids…I Had size and skills over everybody. But it’s like they got better and I just stayed the same. What happens if nobody wants me?

Avery S Wills Jr as “Uncle” Willie McGee, Shooting Stars

There’s a great scene where Willie and his older brother are discussing his frustration.

The encouragement his brother gives about him being a leader is special “you a whole lot more than basketball”

“We More Than Just One Player”

There are things even I didn’t know as a LeBron fan. I was young when these events were happening so I only knew bits and pieces and some things melded together.

I knew Coach Dru led the boys to a state championship, but he wasn’t their first coach. That honor was Coach Dambrot who gave them the tools to win back-to-back titles before going on to return to coaching college ball.

I thought the matchup between St V’s and Oak Hill only happened once. Not only did they play each other twice but the legendary matchup between Carmelo and LeBron in high school had Anthony’s team besting LeBron’s. Only after Carmelo went off to college did St Vincent beat the #1 ranked school in the country. It does help that Anthony went on to win the national title at Syracuse.

I never knew how Savannah and LeBron met. The actors playing the two had amazing chemistry and it was just so cute seeing their relationship grow and change.

One of the best scenes is when LeBron is called out. Savannah is encouraging him to not rest on his laurels, explaining even with Gloria James taking a loan out for a Hummer the NBA isn’t guaranteed. He disagrees even telling her she doesn’t have to shell out $200 for the SAT because she hit the lottery. I appreciated how she called him on his crap, her being insulted by how he viewed her showed LeBron wasn’t perfect and though a star was still an immature kid who sometimes made mistakes. 

I knew there was a lot of flak with LeBron and his Hummer. The fact that a kid, still in high school, was so good that the world accepted James would make it to the league. At 17 there was no guarantee he’d make it but his skill set was enough proof to a bank who approved a loan for Gloria James to be able to buy the vehicle. 

What I didn’t know is that he ended up being suspended, not for the Hummer, but instead of being seen as accepting a bribe. There was a fan who gave him a vintage authentic Washington Bullets jersey that was valued at almost $2000. The hypocrisy was clear.

The school over the four years was getting alumni donations because of the team’s success, no to mention the revenue earned from the games being moved from their gymnasium to actual college arenas holding 10,000 fans, he was seen as being at fault. 

It’s welcomed to see this movie highlighting the hypocrisy that was seen in sports at that time. Not far from Akron Maurice Clarett of the Ohio State Buckeyes went through something similar where he understood especially as a running back he had limited amount of hits that his body was able to take but because this was before the NIL deals he was left earning nothing even as a national champion. Before Sonny Vacarro and UCLA legend Ed O’Bannon’s fight for the rights of athletes colleges actually made you sign over your likeness in order to play which led to you never earning money off the replica jerseys being sold or you being featured in college sports video games in perpetuity.

Instead of rolling over, the team continued without LeBron and kept pushing, winning a game over the Bulldogs to get to State. 

In my opinion the actor who played LeBron was perfectly casted. His voice is similar to James, it’s amazing how similar to the real man.

His best scene is near the end of the movie, after an inspiring speech from his mom he faces the Ohio Sports Athletic Board. As he speaks about the trials and tribulations there’s a sense of authenticity. He pours his heart out explaining even though he is all but guaranteed millions of dollars when he leaves high school.

“Right now I’m not thinking about my future, I’m thinking about my brothers”

Mookie Cook as LeBron James, Shooting Stars

All in all, I loved this movie and will be rewatching this many times over the years.

If you don’t have access to Peacock pay the $1.99/month so you can enjoy this entertaining movie.