Most current and former student athletes won't soon forget the raw emotion expressed in locker rooms after a big win or loss. Friendships forged on bus rides and during long hours in the gym are similarly forever fixed in memory. "More Than a Game" captures the intensity of team experience as it documents the journey of the St. Vincent-St. Mary high school boy's basketball team, which featured a young LeBron James.
The documentary centers around five boys and a coach from Akron, Ohio, as they make the journey from being a middle-school team playing on a linoleum-floored gym to becoming a national basketball powerhouse. The movie uses home videos and TV footage from local stations to show how the boys grew and developed as a basketball team and sprinkles in a series of interviews with the players and coach through which the audience gets a brief glimpse of their personal lives.
Any avid sports follower will be immediately captivated by the events on screen. The action on the court is dynamic, and highlight-reel footage of James and company makes the attempts of other competing high school teams look like child's play. Though basketball fans are now accustomed to seeing James complete astonishing dunks on a nightly basis, watching him make windmill jams and alley-oops over helpless 16-year-olds gives the viewer a sense of how truly talented an athlete he is.
Despite focusing primarily on James during the highlights, the film as a whole captures more than just the star player of the team. "More Than a Game" could have easily devolved into "The LeBron James Show," but it remains fair to the other players, and each team member gets an equal amount of attention. Considering how easy it would be to make a movie focused on the world icon so well-loved today, the filmmakers deserve credit for taking a risk and trying to tell a different story.
There are a number of fantastic people in this film, as each of the players has a unique personality and brings something different to the table. Dru Joyce III, the team's point guard, is the most compelling team member and has some of the best moments in the film. Joyce III, who is by far the shortest member of the team, plays with a chip on his shoulder and an enviable level of confidence. His father, Dru Joyce Jr., is the head coach of the team, and brings a much-needed perspective to the team's journey as the lone adult with any major role in the documentary.
The cinematography is slick and fast-paced, quickly cutting back and forth from highlight reels to flashy graphics and interviews. This keeps the story and the action moving at a rapid pace and creates a heightened level of excitement as the team races closer to its final game.
While the story of this basketball team stays engaging, there is never an attempt to dig deeper into the lives of the kids involved. There are moments during some interviews when the boys discuss their family life, growing up and some of the hardships they had to endure, but not nearly enough time is allotted to let these stories develop. Some dramas are shared, but so many questions are left unanswered: Was there any resentment towards James from the other players? Were there any issues with racism at the nearly all-white school they attended? During the season, were there any family troubles, school troubles, girl troubles, etc.? All of the intimate details that made "Hoop Dreams" (1994) one of the best documentaries of all time are left out, and as such, the film loses some of its emotional gravitas.
The drama that ensues on the basketball court would be far more engrossing if viewers better understood the motivations and feelings of the players when they're off the court. To be fair, "More Than a Game" was compiled after the story had unfolded (as opposed to "Hoop Dreams"), and after-the-fact interviews can't capture the unadulterated emotion of the actual moment. The filmmakers did well with the material they were given, but the film ultimately suffers from this lack depth.
In the end, while the film falls short of its goals, it does most things well. The production is sharp, the action is engrossing and when true emotion does come through, the film is heartfelt and inspirational. Before he was a celebrity and a megastar, LeBron James was just one of the boys — though one who could run circles around his teenage competitors on the court. Despite all the fame, fortune and accolades James now has, when he says that he still thinks about a game he lost in middle school, we can see that he's telling the truth.
