More Than a Game

More Than a Game follows Akron's Fab Four (later Five) kids on the basketball court, from their "Shooting Stars" traveling youth team to high school and a run of championships. The reason this documentary tells their story — instead of the team that miraculously upsets the nationally recognized starters in junior-year playoffs — is because one of the Fab was LeBron James. Ignored in the film's discussion of LeBron's transition to premature fame is his attempt to swing early NBA eligibility after the loss, which wouldn't jibe with the "all for one" ethic, among the film's many pep-talk lessons. The ostensible director here is Kristopher Belman, an Akronite who played court videographer to King James' St. Vincent–St. Mary team, but final cut belongs to LeBron Inc. The recent PR flub of Nike henchmen confiscating footage of LeBron getting gently dunked on in a pickup game testifies to the powerful trust authoring James' legacy. The film could be a tie-in to the recent ghostwritten autobiography Shooting Stars. Most obtrusive, though, is the contribution of Harvey Mason Jr. (producer and original music), who sets Game adrift on an endless sea of crashing crescendos. Good game footage, a few clear looks at the kids behind it, but mostly as processed as Space Jam.