Rating: R
Runtime: 1 hour, 52 minutes
Director: Ben Affleck
Quick Impressions:
My husband was stunned about how crowded the theater was tonight. We quickly concluded most of the crowd was there for Super Mario Brothers.
“I doubt too many people are here to see this movie,” he decided as we stood in line for popcorn.
“Michael Jordan is pretty popular,” I reminded him, looking around.
He checked his app and realized in surprise, “It’s almost sold out!”
“Michael Jordan is pretty popular,” I reiterated. Granted, I wanted to see the movie because of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. I think Ben Affleck’s a good director. I’ve liked all his movies. And the trailer for this film does a good job of letting audiences know Affleck and Damon are in it. (That was a real problem with the all the promotional stuff for the The Last Duel. Watching commercials and trailers gave me no idea that Ben Affleck and Matt Damon wrote that movie, and I only went to see it because I happened to find out they did. And it was really good film, and disappointingly few people saw it.)
It may be hard to get audiences too excited about a medieval #MeToo meditation, but the subject matter of this film is bound to draw a bigger crowd. If you asked me, “What’s a famous eponymous shoe?” Air Jordans would be right at the top of my list. (In fact, the only others that immediately spring to mind are Satan shoes and Caligula (which is not a brand of shoe).) When I was a kid, everybody wanted Air Jordans, and they probably still do.
I knew a guy in sixth grade who inserted “Air” into the middle of his name, dreamed about owning a collection of Jordans, and planned to name his future daughter “Air”ial. And I vividly remember moving to the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex in the eighth grade and hearing about a new murder over Air Jordans practically every time we turned on the news.
“If someone tries to steal your shoes, just give them to them,” my mother advised. Shockingly, no one cornered me behind the middle school and demanded, “Give me that new pair of plaid Keds your grandma got you for Christmas.”
As we left the theater tonight, my husband noted, “There was someone in there wearing an original design pair of Air Jordans. They were in pretty good shape, too.”
“They might be a commemorative reissue,” I speculated. (Looking now, I see that’s probably a sound guess.)
Who doesn’t like Michael Jordan? I used to watch basketball with my grandpa, and his team was the Lakers, but I eventually became a fan of Michael Jordan because of his excellence and omnipresence (and that I one time I watched him play with a 275 degree fever). Surprisingly, I never had the slightest bit of curiosity about how he made a deal with Nike, though. Watching tonight, I thought, “Why has no one told this story before?”
The Good:
The shoe business is cutthroat. It’s so intense. Watching all these men at work in the 80s reminded me of when my dad used to come home from work in the 80s, all stressed out from the intensity of a business environment. He’d tell me, “Don’t go into business. It’s too stressful.”
I amused myself during the film’s early scenes thinking things like, “There’s no business like shoe business,” (but said in a really intense way). Basically for the first half hour of this movie, what I learned was that Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon) had a million bosses, and they were all mad at him 24/7 because he was constantly abrasive and had a genuine love of watching outstanding high school and college basketball plays when everybody else just wanted to kiss up to the boss in pointless meetings.
This is another of the many environments in which I could never flourish. I was sitting there thinking, “I hope Michael Jordan somehow sees his vision because otherwise, I don’t know how this will work out. I can’t even keep track of who reports to whom. It seems like every other star in this movie is his boss somehow, and yet none of them report to each other.”
After a while, the characters started settling into place in my head, and I got a grip on the hierarchy. I know who Phil Knight is. In this movie, he’s Ben Affleck, and Affleck plays him a lot like he plays most characters. (That’s not an insult. There’s just a certain type of character Affleck plays really well and pretty consistently.) I was unfamiliar with Rob Strasser (Jason Bateman) and Howard White (Chris Tucker). And I also didn’t know sports agent David Falk (Chris Messina) because I am untalented at sports in every way.
Messina immediately made a huge impression as Falk, though. I thought, “Wow, it’s a good thing he doesn’t work for that guy!” Messina’s scenes are so funny. His intense invective just keeps getting more and more over-the-top as the film progresses.
Like Affleck, Bateman and Tucker are playing variations on characters they often play, but this works really well. The core cast works as if they’re on a sports team themselves. Their parts play to their strengths as actors. Nobody’s really outside their comfort zone, but as an ensemble, they create this surprisingly suspenseful, engaging story that’s fun to watch unfold.
The movie is also quite atmospheric. It has an 80s soundtrack that doesn’t quit. In a way, it reminds me of how that first installment of those Netflix Fear Street movies basically began, “Here’s every 90s hit in ten minutes.” After the movie opens with a fun montage of familiar 80s pop culture clips, we’re bombarded with familiar 80s songs in scene after scene. This inundation of atmosphere is always showcasing the character interactions, though, not overpowering them.
I love the way the movie looks, particularly its color scheme (which to be honest, is something I rarely notice). Maybe the story’s overt focus on the design of the shoe cued me to focus more than I ordinarily would have on the look of the costumes. We get a lot of soft blues, quite appealing to watch, and a pretty 80s color palette. The haircuts are great, too.
Viola Davis gets a nice role as Jordan’s mother, a character we recognize as a virtuous powerhouse the moment she appears on screen. And Matthew Maher makes Peter Moore so weirdly charming.
The film is written (by Alex Convery) and directed (by Affleck) in a simple but highly effective way. Nobody has to do anything outside their skillset. Nobody’s playing against type. I think it’s really cool that we get a crucial moment of basketball analysis from Damon’s Sonny Vaccaro in which he closely watches a key play and interprets it thoughtfully. The movie itself seems to be working like a well-orchestrated basketball play. Every actor is playing to his or her strengths. In the game footage, Vaccaro is watching the team get the ball to Jordan, so he can make the game-winning shot. In the movie, everyone is trying to get the shoe to Jordan, so he can make a career-launching deal.
Sonny Vaccaro is easy to root for because displays a genuine passion for basketball, a true love of his work, and the kind of insight that only comes from context and care. But it’s great to watch him break down that play, then tell Michael’s mother how to break down the interactions in meetings. In the beginning of the movie, nobody listens to Sonny because he’s saying substantive things, and they’re just saying what sounds good. But Michael’s mother does listen, and then when she has something of substance to say, she invites him to listen to her in the same way. It’s a pretty cool way to structure the story.
What’s most surprising is how much genuine suspense the story manages to build—especially because 1) We all already know the outcome 2) I never thought of myself as being interested in the wheelings and dealings of tightly wound sports shoe executives.
Best Scene:
Best is the moment Vaccaro breaks down the basketball play because 1) We see he has a keen eye for detail and the dynamics of developing situations and 2) The movie seems to be working in a similar way.
Also the phone call with Michael’s mother is pretty good because 1) It could seem heavy handed and forced, but Davis knows how to deliver the lines so that it doesn’t, and 2) It has kind of a fun, “And here’s the real reason you’ve been watching this movie, the moment we’ve all been waiting for even if we didn’t know it,” feel to it.
Best Scene Visually:
When we’re introduced to Michael’s father (Julius Tennon), he’s out working on his car. I don’t know if it’s intentional, but that immediately made me remember that he was murdered while sleeping in his car. That was quite a shocking news story, especially because it was just a random crime, and the carjackers didn’t know it was Michael Jordan’s dad when they attacked him.
Best Action Sequence:
Chris Messina’s scenes are all so over-the-top in intensity and pretty hilarious. I was just telling my husband before the movie started, “References to Hitler really just aren’t funny,” and then I was like, “Okay…well that was funny.” Somehow, I never even knew Adidas was a German company. I don’t know how I never knew that. I’ve owned many pairs of Adidas shoes. For a long time, they were my go-to for tennis shoes (by which I mean running/walking shoes).
The Negatives:
In some ways the movie is very motivational, but it’s probably a lot easier to know your worth if a) you have the talent of Michael Jordan, and b) Someone else is literally negotiating the deal for you. The only reason I mention this is because the movie’s tone at the end is definitely one of imparting great wisdom to the audience. Then again, I’m not trying to beat Michael Jordan at basketball or selling shoes. I think the movie’s real message is that to succeed, you must know which advice to take.
Michael’s mother takes the advice of the man who demonstrates that he has been paying attention and possesses analytical skill and passion. Damon’s character takes the advice of George Raveling (Marlon Wayans) and learns to pivot at a critical moment. (By the way, I love how we see him succeed by following this advice which comes from a very wise source. Such a nobility is lent to the process of marketing shoes in this movie. It’s always fascinating to see how capitalism and materialism can be manipulated to become forces for good in the right hands.)
This doesn’t sound too negative, huh? I don’t have any major issues with this movie. I think it’s fun, engaging, and even a bit edifying at the end.
Overall:
I kind of want to buy a pair of Air Jordans now. (I think perhaps I’m too susceptible to advertising.) I can’t meditate on this film anymore, though. I’m working on a project of my own, and I have a lot to get done tonight!