It’s the 80s - boy, is it the 80s - and in the sneaker business third place is last place. This is bad news for Nike, as their basketball shoe division is currently staring at a bronze medal. Basketball “guru” Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) has been brought in by his friend and Nike CEO Phil Knight (Ben Affleck, who also directs) to turn it around, but all his big ideas involve the one thing he can’t have: more money.
As far as sponsoring players goes, 18 year-old Michael Jordan is clearly promising in this year's line-up, but when Sonny decides to bet everything on a big gamble to win over the Adidas-loving Jordan and his business manager mother (Viola Davis), first he has to win over Nike before he can take his shot.
There’s more small pleasures than big dramas in this true story of sports marketing. The main players are all slightly shabby middle-aged men (admittedly, this may very well be the fanbase for a Michael Jordan story in 2023), who each get one character quirk each: one likes to gamble, one is a sad divorced dad (Jason Bateman), one is a rapid-fire motor-mouth (that'd be Chris Tucker) and so on.
As the ending is never in doubt the fun comes from seeing them slowly put the pieces together, and the teamwork angle is the strongest part of the film. Everyone proves to be an integral part of the effort to win over Jordan, and everyone gets a big speech to prove it. Well, everyone but Knight, who Affleck plays as the closest thing here to comedy relief.
This is a subdued return to directing for Affleck, and while the small scale helps with the story - these guys really do feel like underdogs - the lack of flash or flair does occasionally dampen the mood a little. This isn't a tale of sports excellence: these are marketing guys putting together a deal, and the winner is money.
Jordan himself is kept off camera, but Davis comes on strong as the mother who knows driving a hard bargain is in everyone’s interests – as Sonny says, this is the rare deal where everyone comes out on top.
- Anthony Morris
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