Movie Month: Once More with Feeling

“Basketball is a vehicle…,” says Dru Joyce Jr. as the camera pans slowly across an empty gymnasium. The metaphor introduced in the opening scene of the aptly-titled More Than a Game powers a poignant and textured story of brotherhood, fathers and sons, and friendship.

First-time director Kris Belman benefited from both good timing and good fortune. The project began as a 10-minute film-school assignment (that earned Belman a B+) and might have been relegated to obscurity but for a real-world narrative arc that would make Disney’s screenwriters envious. Belman brought his camera back to his home town of Akron, OH just as five boys were beginning their high school basketball careers. He finally wrapped shooting seven years, three state championships, one defining loss, and one rocket ride to stardom later.

The film, which opens nationally today, will garner a great deal of publicity because of LeBron James’ involvement. The truth, though, is that the NBA star’s story is just one of five. Perhaps the most compelling scene in the movie comes at the end of the five teammates’ career at St. Vincent-St. Mary’s High School. On senior night, when players walked to center court accompanied by their parents, LeBron (whose love for his mother is clearly documented in the film) chose to make his final entrance with Sian, Willie, Romeo, and Dru III.

We’ve spent some time documenting the themes of friendship and loyalty in More Than a Game. But if the movie’s soul is the friendship between the teammates, its heart lies in the relationship between Dru Joyce III and his father. The elder Joyce set out to do what million of other fathers do (and many more should) – he set out to be there for his son, coaching rec league and then AAU teams. It was only an accident of fate that put him on the bench as the head coach of St. Vincent-St. Mary’s after the Vikings had won consecutive state championships. The following season tested his faith, his belief in himself, and his relationship with his son.

We love sports because they reveal character. In the end, More Than a Game succeeds because of this fact. Failure teaches Coach Joyce a lesson in humility and perspective, and he in turn offers the same gift to his team. “My job is not basketball,” he says, “my job is to help them become men.”

My biases with respect to More Than a Game are clearly established, so let’s get that on the record. But despite the fact that I’m in the tank for the film based on a unique personal experience, it definitively exceeded my expectations. This is anything but a star turn for LeBron James, and his emphatic refusal to promote the movie as such speaks highly of his love for the people that helped him get where he is today. We give it 70 Gheorghes out of 77.