There’s a lively all-star lineup here and, theoretically at any rate, a great true story from American sports with all the relatability your heart could desire. But this film winds up looking like the most expensive in-house corporate promo in history: shallow, parochial and obtuse. By the time the credits roll, we’re apparently supposed to be euphoric – not so much at individual sporting achievement, but at all the billions of dollars that Nike has been making.
In the mid-80s, a Nike executive called Sonny Vaccaro dreamed of signing up basketball star Michael Jordan to promote the revolutionary new Air Jordan sneaker, which was to be designed entirely for the basketball player – an integral part of his brand identity. Converse and Adidas had more money to offer, so Vaccaro drove to Jordan’s family home in North Carolina on a risky mission to bypass Jordan’s lawyers, agent and management team and instead befriend Jordan’s formidable mother, Deloris.
