Kyrie Irving in an NBA superstar who was recently traded from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Boston Celtics in the past offseason, meaning that Irving would no longer be playing in the shadow of the great LeBron James. For a few years now, LeBron James has been floated as the star to a long in development sequel to Space Jam, taking the mantle of Michael Jordan. But it’s LeBron’s former teammate who finds himself leading his own basketball-themed movie with Uncle Drew, which sees Kyrie Irving donning old age makeup in what looks to be a bizarre comedy mashup of Bad Grandpa and, well, I really don’t know.
Under layers of makeup, Irving will play a character he initially debuted in a series of viral shorts for Pepsi a few years ago. Now the aged Drew must team with a set of other aged players in order to enter a street basketball tournament where the elderly baller will compete to win his fame and fortune. Irving’s teammates in the comedy from director Charles Stone III are an impressive roster of retired all-stars, Shaquille O’Neal, Reggie Miller, Chris Webber, Nate Robinson, and Lisa Leslie. The rest of the supporting cast features some all-stars from the comedy world, including Get Out breakout star Lil Rel Howrey, Girls Trip breakout star Tiffany Haddish, and sketch comedy star Nick Kroll.
Uncle Drew lands in theaters on June 29, 2018 and will either usher in a new era of superstardom for Kyrie Irving or be the most embarssing moment for the NBA superstar since his vocal belief in flat-Earth nonsense. We’ll see.
The official synopsis for Uncle Drew:
After draining his life savings to enter a team in the Rucker Classic street ball tournament in Harlem, Dax (Lil Rel Howery) is dealt a series of unfortunate setbacks, including losing his team to his longtime rival (Nick Kroll). Desperate to win the tournament and the cash prize, Dax stumbles upon the man, the myth, the legend UNCLE DREW (NBA All-Star Kyrie Irving) and convinces him to return to the court one more time. The two men embark on a road trip to round up Drew’s old basketball squad (Shaquille O’Neal, Chris Webber, Reggie Miller, Nate Robinson, and Lisa Leslie) and prove that a group of septuagenarians can still win the big one.
