Disclaimer:  The views expressed here are mine alone and do not represent those of allgames.com.

Introduction to Uncle Drew Movie Review by Ms. H

I was on the fence about seeing this movie but decided to give it the benefit of the doubt.  The scenes in the preview of the movie seemed like a comedy tv show instead of a movie, but i went to see it anyway -- using my MoviePass.  Looks like I should have stayed on the fence and skipped this movie. You may want to do the same. Without further ado, here’s my review of the movie, Uncle Drew.

Synopsis of the Uncle Drew Movie

The simple synopsis of Uncle Drew involved a basketball coach’s goal to put together a team of basketball players in order to win a tournament.  As he was turned downed by competent players, he happened upon Uncle Drew who impressed him with his basketball skills -- even though he was more mature than the other players he was trying to recruit.

Pros of Uncle Drew Movie

A plus is that Tiffany Haddish, the comedian who has been enjoying a good year in 2018, had a part in the film.  

There was an action scene in the movie involving a car chase.

Cons of Uncle Drew Movie

Actual basketball players were in this movie; however, they were made up to look a lot older than they were in real life.

There was poor acting all around including the basketball coach as well as the basketball players. They were definitely not professional actors. Shaquille O’Neal has appeared in previous movies -- but his acting skills have not improved from experience.

Additionally, the weak subplots did not help the movie any. In fact they could have been omitted without anyone noticing.  Specifically, there was a subplot involving a feud between two of the players due to a woman who was now deceased. Another subplot involved the wife of one of the players trying to keep her husband from playing in the tournament.  However, somehow, she ended up being in the game herself.

The predictability level of Uncle Drew was high.  I think the moviegoers knew the team was going to win when the movie began.

One of the actors --  Nick Kroll as Mookie was miscast.  In fact, he was not only miscast in the movie, but looked out of place being anywhere near a basketball court.

There was too many ageism and stereotypical jokes in the movie that were not humorous but came off as being demoralizing to older people -- especially due to the cliches.

This movie was supposed to be a comedy, but it was not humorous to any degree.  The audience laughed when the coach insulted Shaquille O’Neal about his face -- but that was not funny to me.

Assessment of the Uncle Drew Movie

I’ve seen many basketball movies in the past that passed muster with me, and was hoping this one would fall into that category.  However, nothing could save his movie which would have been better off going straight to DVD. Even though this movie was a parody -- it was not an entertaining one to me.

I think the Uncle Drew  movie could have been improved if:

1. Tiffany Haddish had a bigger role in the movie
2. Eliminate the “old people” makeup
3. Use skilled actors
4. Get rid of or reduce the number of ageism jokes,
5. Include a twist of some sort to add suspense to the movie
6. Have the woman that the players were feuding about cast in the movie

On the positive side, the movie was relatively short unless you stayed to watch the outtakes at the end.  

Rating of the Uncle Drew Movie

Based on a rating of 1 star to 5 stars with 5 stars being the highest, I rate Uncle Drew 1 ¾ stars.