More Than a Game Review: New Doc Reveals LeBron James Early Life

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It turns out that Michael Jackson isn't the only star with a documentary in theatres this week. NBA All-Star LeBron James is the subject of a new documentary entitled More Than a Game.

The new doc focuses on James days playing high school basketball at St. Vincents-St. Mary's High School in his hometown of Akron, Ohio. More specifically, the story is about LeBron and his childhood friends – Dru Joyce III, Sian Cotton and Willie McGee –  who led the team to a national championship. 

The so-called Fab Four became national stars before they were old enough to drive cars and More Than a Game does a nice job of telling the story of every member of the Fab Four rather than just focusing on King James

As More Than a Game documents, the Fab Four met back in grammar school when they started competing on a local AAU team and decided to attend the same high school. The SVSM squad move from local legends to national sensations when young LeBron is featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. The piece touted LeBron as basketball's next big thing and the ensuing publicity was enough to go to anyone's head. The team starts believing their own hype before Coach Joyce turns them around and help them compete for a national championship.

Along the way, we learn more about the players and their lives. Dru Joyce III has to deal with being an undersized point guard whose dad is the team coach. Willie McGee uses basketball as a way to connect with his brother. Sian Cotton is a big man who seems better suited for football than basketball.

And then there's LeBron. If the film does anything, it helps humanize King James, reminding viewers of his humble roots growing up with a single mother in a housing project in Akron. While LeBron is today living the life of a global icon (complete with a posse straight out of HBO's Entourage), the film does a nice job showing him as just a normal kid who worked hard to make the most of his otherworldly talent. If anything, the film could have used more about LeBron's personal life and the lives of his teammates.

Part of the film also deals with how LeBron James dealt with his burgeoning fame. That includes a scandal that arises after LeBron accept some free jerseys from a local merchant, a move that gets LeBron temporarily suspended. While LeBron is eventually allowed to play, the film sidesteps the bigger issues surrounding James' suspension, namely how young athletes are constantly put into compromising situations by people trying to cash in on their fame.

If the film has a flaw is that it tries too hard to fit into the mould of a typical sports film: that is, a group of plucky underdogs proving everyone wrong. In a way, the Fab Four were underdogs, modest kids from a relatively small city of Akron. Still, it's hard to think of a team as an underdog when it features arguably the greatest high school player ever. It's a great story, but it ain't Hoosiers and it shouldn't try to be.

 Still, More Than a Game is a hard film not to like. Thanks to director Kristopher Belman, you get to see the birth of one of the game's greats and the friends that joined him along the way.