Slam dunk: 5 hoop dream movies on Showmax

Michael Jordan is one of the world’s most extraordinary athletes, a real-life superhero who made a name for himself playing basketball. The unequivocal star of the intergalactic Looney Tunes sports comedy classic Space Jam, basketball also serves as a backboard for many stirring sports comedies, documentaries and dramas for us mere mortals back on planet Earth.

A team sport that prizes the courtside experience, it’s all about the pursuit’s in-your-face sight and sounds. This guts-and-glory impact value translates beautifully to screen as audiences get a taste of the action and drama between the two hoops. In this buzzer-beater spirit, here are 5 fine basketball films that bring the hopes, dreams and team dynamic of the competitive and thrilling sport to life.

1. Shooting Stars

Shooting Stars is the Straight Outta Compton of basketball. Instead of tracking the legendary hip hop crew behind NWA, this biographical sports drama chronicles the rise of an awesome foursome of friends led by LeBron James. From his upbringing in Akron, Ohio, Shooting Stars journeys with the prodigy and his childhood friends who spearhead the St Vincent St Mary high school team. The core of the phenomenon better known as The Fighting Irish, they became the number-one team in the country, which catapulted James into the spotlight.

An intimate tale of perseverance, this inspiring true story captures the nostalgia around LeBron’s youth as he and his friends carved their names in basketball history. Through solid performances, Shooting Stars relays the camaraderie and energy that transformed LeBron from promising young talent into basketball superstar. Touching on the role of family, friends and mentors, this inspirational origin story is a prelude to his career as an NBA Champion, Olympic gold medalist and an all-time leading scorer.

2. Champions

Sports dramas are usually geared around a team of underdogs who band together in order to will their way to the top through discipline, teamwork and sheer tenacity. Champions hinges on this winning formula with one key exception: going for gold isn’t everything. Led by an unlikely hero, this spirited sports comedy drama centres on a disgraced basketball coach whose drunk driving charge finds him serving 90 days of community service.

There to train a team of mentally disabled players, the cantankerous former minor-league coach realises just how much he can learn from his newly assigned band of merry men. Woody Harrelson stars opposite Kaitlin Olson and Ernie Hudson with a squad of mostly first-time actors from an underrepresented community. They bring authenticity, charm and star quality to the Friends basketball team in this heartfelt movie.

3. The Day Sports Stood Still

While most would rather forget it ever happened, reverberations from the Covid-19 pandemic are still being felt today. Besides the eeriness of empty inner cities and duress of face masks that became linked to lockdown, Covid-19 also had a major effect on sport in the United States. The domino effect started in March 2020 when a basketball game between OKC Thunder and Utah Jazz was canceled mid-session.

Directed by Antoine Fuqua, The Day Sports Stood Still chronicles the events that followed this game’s unexpected shutdown, which ultimately led the NBA to suspend their season.

Through interviews with athletes and coaches, this insightful sports documentary tracks the effects on mental and physical health, as well as social change and return to competition and a new normal.

4. Coach Carter

Samuel L Jackson is a film legend who needs no introduction. A Tarantino regular, he’s developed a cult notoriety and created a niche. That’s what makes Coach Carter so refreshing, with Jackson dialling back his Jacksonness for a strong albeit more conventional performance as a high school basketball coach. In the title role, he’s tasked with inspiring a group of wayward yet talented players to share a life-changing vision for the team.

This spirited sports drama harnesses the raw potency of Dangerous Minds as Carter tries to shape young minds through the power and hope of sport. An energetic and stirring basketball movie, Coach Carter focusses on discipline, perseverance and responsibility while driving home the importance of education.

5. Semi-Pro

Will Ferrell is not afraid to go over the top, able to squeeze every drop of comedy out of a moment until it hurts. After a wildly successful comedy adventure as a manly news anchor in Anchorman, the comedy giant went after basketball as an equally larger-than-life character in Jackie Moon. The owner, coach and player behind the American Basketball Association’s Flint Michigan Tropics, it’s Moon who tries to get his team of plucky oddballs into the NBA.

Semi-Pro is filled with recognisable comedy talent, starring Woody Harrelson, André 3000, David Koechner and Will Arnett. A riff on the silliness of the sport and times, this amusing sports comedy spoof is built on Ferrell’s attention-grabbing performance. A blast of fun, Semi-Pro harks back to Ferrell’s memorable roles as Ron Burgundy in Anchorman and Ricky Bobby in Talladega Nights.