Every sport has its own classic movies, but basketball is particularly notable when we look at the scope of the library of basketball movies that have debuted over the years. Films like Space Jam and Air Bud stand out to the casual fan, but we recently got a chance to ask the cast of Uncle Drew to tell us what they thought the best basketball movie of all time is during the film's recent press day in Los Angeles. When I posed this question to Get Out's Lil Rel Howrey, he kicked things off by giving a shoutout to Hoop Dreams. Howrey said:
Hoop Dreams is the best basketball movie. First of all, because it's one of the first good basketball, but also one of the realest depictions of life and basketball I've ever seen.
That's a classic answer for anyone who knows his or her way around the genre. The 1994 Steve James film has become a famous documentary about the sport in the years since it first debuted, and as Lil Rel Howrey noted in our interview, Hoop Dreams' balance of drama and basketball helped carve out its legacy.
From there, we posed the same question to some legends of the game: Reggie Miller, Lisa Leslie, and Nate Robinson. Leading the trio, Miller downplayed the importance of Hoosiers and opted to pick One on One:
Reggie Miller: Everyone's gonna say Hoosiers, but not for me. I was a big Robby Benson, this is back in the early 1980s, One on One.Lisa Leslie: That's tough. Love & Basketball. Boom. I remember that movie.Nate Robinson: Above the Rim.
Then we asked the question to Uncle Drew himself. Wasting no time in his answer, Kyrie Irving pointed out He Got Game and its resonance for his own life. Irving explained:
For me, I have an emotional pull to He Got Game. Just the storyline, the narrative of it. It really hit home for me.
Last, but definitely not least, we round out our list of the best basketball movies of all time with Kroll Show star Nick Kroll. Opting to take a far less modest take on the situation than the others, Kroll went all in and declared Uncle Drew the champion. The comedian said:
For me, it's either The Air Up There or Uncle Drew. I think I'm gonna go with Uncle Drew as the best basketball movie of all time... I'm the only one who lacks modesty.
Want a closer look at CinemaBlend's chat with the cast of Uncle Drew? Check out a clip from our various interviews, below!
Uncle Drew is now in theaters. Take a look a CinemaBlend's comprehensive review of the film to see what we thought of it, and then head over to our movie premiere guide to see what other films are on the horizon for the rest of 2018!
