"Shooting Stars" (2023) Movie Review: A Biopic about LeBron James and His Friends

Directed by Chris Robinson and starring Mookie Cook, Caleb McLaughlin, and Algee Smith, “Shooting Stars” is a biopic about the legendary LeBron James.

While we agree that James deserves a movie about his legacy, we are unsure if this film should have been released (or better yet, made) before his retirement.

From a cinematographic point of view, it doesn’t stand out for its original treatment, limiting itself in many instances to fulfill the genre’s prerogatives and offer us a typical sports drama about personal growth and friendship. It’s perfect for those who want an uplifting flick about friendship and life, but don’t look for more depth in “Shooting Stars”.

Storyline

The inspirational story of how a basketball superhero came to be, “Shooting Stars” reveals how LeBron James and his childhood friends became the number one high school team in the country, launching James’ impressive career as a four-time NBA champion, two-time Olympic gold medalist, and all-time NBA leading scorer.

Movie Review

“Shooting Stars” is, above all, a good basketball movie that never loses sight of its purpose: to tell a story about basketball and friendship. It’s a story about friends who plan to become big stars, their subsequent successes, setbacks, and the emergence (as expected) of LeBron as the NBA superstar.

It has something to say, and it says it well. Based on Buzz Bissinger’s biography and LeBron James’ first-hand account, the script is tailored for a specific audience that largely shapes the film’s development and, of course, limits its exploration of more complex themes.

Directed by Chris Robinson, the film is well made, but it never deviates from the script. It follows the steps of sports dramas without trying to be original in its proposal, but it excels in recreating the period’s context and the social problems of Akron in those days.

Mookie Cook, Caleb McLaughlin, and Algee Smith are great actors who also play basketball and show it on the screen. They give their best performances both on the court and in front of the camera.

The film’s shining moment is in its recreation of the era and the social problems of Akron at that time. The script does a good job of addressing the racial and social issues of those days, which are overcome through friendship and, above all, basketball.

Technically, it’s a good movie, but it doesn’t want to be flashy or showy, at least not in terms of editing. It shines more in photography, with incredible basketball scenes, lots of slow-motion shots, and plenty of sports action, which is what the audience expects from these kinds of films. It knows how to show itself in technical terms, but not too much, allowing the story to develop naturally.

Our Opinion

“Shooting Stars” is a good sports movie, created for fans of LeBron James and basketball in general, and almost exclusively for them. For everyone else, it will be seen as just another movie with good context notes, correctly filmed, and with its best asset in the basketball sequences.