''More than a Game'' is a 2008 American

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

that follows basketball superstar

LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. (; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is widely considered one of the greatest pl ...

and four of his teammates through the trials and tribulations of high school basketball in

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County, Ohio, Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 C ...

, and James's journey to fame. The film trailer was released in April featuring the single " Stronger" by

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Often referred to as the " Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and " Queen of R&B", Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, four American Music Award ...

, which she released in support of the film. The soundtrack titled ''

Music Inspired by More than a Game ''Music Inspired by More than a Game'' is the official soundtrack album name for music taken from and inspired by the documentary film '' More than a Game''. The film is centered on the life of LeBron James and was released in October 2009. The ...

'' was released September 28, 2009. The film had limited theatrical release on October 2, 2009.

Synopsis

''More than a Game'' is a documentary that focuses in on five young basketball players—

Dru Joyce III Dru Joyce III (born January 29, 1985) is an American basketball coach and former professional player who is an associate head coach for the Duquesne Dukes men’s team. His coaching career began in 2019–20 with the Cleveland State Vikings men' ...

Romeo Travis Romeo Travis (born December 10, 1984) is an American-born naturalized Macedonian professional basketball player who last played for Limoges CSP of the LNB Pro A. He played college basketball for the University of Akron. High school career Travis ...

, Sian Cotton, Willie McGee—and their coach, Dru Joyce II, performing on an AAU team with the growing stardom of the future NBA superstar, LeBron James. Taking them through their pre-teens to high school, this film follows their incredible journey as the unknown Ohio team rises to the top of youth athletics.

Cast

as himself *

as himself * Sian Cotton as himself * Willie McGee as himself * (Coach) Dru Joyce II as himself KristopherBelmanByPhilKonstantin

Soundtrack

Lebron James 3 Shankbone More Than a Game

The music is mainly inspired by A. J. Mighton and John Colwill. An

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

of the movie,

Harvey Mason Jr. Harvey Jay Mason Jr. (born June 3, 1968) is an American record producer, songwriter, movie producer and current CEO of The Recording Academy. He has written and produced songs for artists including Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, Deniece Wil ...

, also is an executive producer of the soundtrack album, ''Music Inspired by More than a Game''. The album was due for release on September 28, 2009, in the UK and September 29 in the US.

Interscope Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Musi ...

is the main record label involved although

Polow da Don Jamal Fincher Jones (born October 15, 1977, or 1978), professionally known as Polow da Don, is an American record producer and rapper. Jones has produced a variety of singles for a multitude of artists including "Anaconda" by Nicki Minaj (2014 ...

's label Zone 4 inc/productions Mason's Harvey Mason Media the main production associates and publishers involved. Producers for the project include

Boi-1da Matthew Jehu Samuels (born October 12, 1986), known professionally as Boi-1da ( , a play on "boy wonder"), is a Jamaican-Canadian Record production, record producer and songwriter based in Toronto, Ontario. The Toronto raised producer has work ...

, Danielle Rayna, Polow da Don and Jerome Harmon amongst others. The soundtrack features songs from

Ester Dean Esther Renay Dean (born April 15, 1986) is an American singer, songwriter, music producer and actress. Dean has also written songs for many artists, with numerous Top 10 hits, including No. 1 hits for Rihanna and Katy Perry, earning the name " ...

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals * A male duck People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name * Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * ...

, T.I.,

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...

, and

Soulja Boy DeAndre Cortez Way (born July 28, 1990), known professionally as Soulja Boy (formerly Soulja Boy Tell 'Em), is an American rapper and record producer. He rose to prominence, after his self published debut single "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" peake ...

, amongst others. The album also features additional vocals or raps from

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. According to '' Billboard'', Brown is one of the most successful R&B singers of his generation, having often been referred to by many contempo ...

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. His career began in 1995, at the age of 12, when he was signed by rapper Birdman (rapper), ...

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing hip hop in middle America and is critically acclai ...

Toni Braxton Toni Michele Braxton (born October 7, 1967) is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B singer, songwriter, actress and television personality. She has sold over 70 million records worldwide and is one of the best-selling female artists in history. ...

, JoJo,

Jordin Sparks Jordin Sparks-Thomas (born December 22, 1989) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame in 2007 after winning the sixth season of ''American Idol'' at age 17, becoming the youngest winner in the series' history. Her self-titled debu ...

Ya Boy William Joseph Crawford (born January 28, 1984), known by his stage name Ya Boy (also known as Rich Rocka), is an American rapper from the Fillmore District of San Francisco, California. He was formerly signed to both of Akon's labels Konvict M ...

Omarion Omari Ishmael Grandberry (born November 12, 1984), better known by his stage name Omarion, is an American R&B singer, songwriter, actor and dancer. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the boy band B2K. The group achieved success in the e ...

, and

Faith Evans Faith Renée Evans (born June 10, 1973) is an American singer and actress. Born in Lakeland, Florida, and raised in New Jersey, she relocated to Los Angeles in 1991 for a career in the music business. After working as a backing vocalist for Al B ...

plus others. A number of songs were released as singles. First, " Stronger" by Mary J Blige is the soundtrack's lead single and was released on August 4, 2009, to support the film and later on August 21, 2009, as the second single from Blige's ninth studio album also titled '' Stronger''. " Drop It Low" by Ester Dean (with Chris Brown) was released as a single on August 9, 2009, while "

Forever Forever or 4ever may refer to: Film and television Films * ''Forever'' (1921 film), an American silent film by George Fitzmaurice * ''Forever'' (1978 film), an American made-for-television romantic drama * ''Forever'' (1992 film), an American ...

" by Drake (featuring Kanye West, Lil Wayne, & Eminem) was released as a single on September 15, 2009.

Reception

Box office

''More than a Game'' opened with $182,943 in its first weekend and grossed a total of $960,387, $950,675 in the United States and Canada, and $9,712 worldwide.

Critical response

On the review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of 71%, based on 52 reviews, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Though the film may not delve as deep as some would prefer, ''More than a Game'' is an inspiring documentary featuring likable youngsters, a positive message, and some exciting in-game footage." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a score of 59 out of 100, based on 18 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* * * {{CNN Films 2008 films American basketball films American sports documentary films Documentary films about basketball Lionsgate films LeBron James Sports in Akron, Ohio Films set in Akron, Ohio Films shot in Ohio High school basketball in the United States Basketball in Ohio 2008 directorial debut films Documentary films about Ohio 2000s English-language films 2000s American films