To show how out of the loop with the NBA I am, I had no idea Uncle Drew was a thing. Boston Celtics guard Kyrie Irving has been playing the legendary street ball character for five years in a series of digital ad campaigns. And now he’s here and coming to the big screen in Uncle Drew, which features a handful of NBA Hall of Famers, plus Get Out‘s Lil Rey Howery and Girls Trip‘s Tiffany Haddish.
Directed by Charles Stone III (Drumline, Step Sisters), with Nick Kroll and Erica Ash co-starring, the film finds basketball greats Reggie Miller, Chris Webber, Shaquille O’Neal, Lisa Leslie, and Nate Robinson as aged players on a street ball team led by the legendary Uncle Drew. Here’s the synopsis:
After draining his life savings to enter a team in the Rucker Classic street ball tournament in Harlem, Dax (Lil Rel Howery) is dealt a series of unfortunate setbacks, including losing his team to his longtime rival (Nick Kroll). Desperate to win the tournament and the cash prize, Dax stumbles upon the man, the myth, the legend UNCLE DREW (NBA All-Star Kyrie Irving) and convinces him to return to the court one more time. The two men embark on a road trip to round up Drew’s old basketball squad (Shaquille O’Neal, Chris Webber, Reggie Miller, Nate Robinson, and Lisa Leslie) and prove that a group of septuagenarians can still win the big one.
This looks just stupid enough to work, or be a total brick like Shaq at the free throw line. We’ll find out when Uncle Drew opens June 29th.
