Written by Joel Pesantez
It feels weird to call a two-time MVP and four-time NBA champion “underrated,” but A24’s latest documentary, Stephen Curry: Underrated, takes the challenge head-on. The documentary chronicles Curry’s meteoric rise to dominance, noting the challenges and setbacks along the way. On paper, Curry is an interesting subject for a documentary. He has a fairytale story, but in execution, the film mostly amounts to a by-the-books sports documentary that doesn’t entirely justify its existence.
The film begins with an interesting setup, simultaneously chronicling several times within Curry’s career where he’s been underrated. One storyline details the 2021-2022 NBA season, wherein Curry and his team struggle with losing streaks and injuries. The storyline culminates in the team winning a championship and ultimately proving his doubters wrong. The other storyline, which takes up much more of the focus, chronicles Curry’s basketball journey up to making the NBA. It follows him as a child, before covering his high school and college days.
As someone who considers themselves a pretty big basketball fan, this documentary is a disappointment. When the project was first announced a couple of years ago, it quickly rose to the top of my list of anticipated movies. The prospect of A24, arguably the best entertainment production and distribution companies of the last decade or so, teaming up with producer Ryan Coogler to make a documentary about Steph Curry seemed like a slam dunk.
Unlike most sports documentaries and A24 projects, which typically target a niche audience of die-hard fans, this particular one appears to have a broader appeal, aiming to capture the attention of a wider, more general audience. That doesn’t necessarily make it a bad movie, but it leaves a lot to be desired. To anyone who isn’t a big basketball fan or familiar with Curry, I could envision them enjoying this, especially in getting to see the underreported and forgotten ups and downs of his collegiate career. The main issue arises in that there isn’t much nuance to the storytelling, coming off as more summary than analysis.
Part of this problem lies in the focus. The documentary seems to be adamant about proving its thesis that Curry is one of, if not the most underrated players in the NBA. It’s an interesting twist to the traditional sports documentary format, but it distracts from Curry’s story and feels forced at certain moments. The movie constantly underplays Curry’s achievements and influence in an attempt to box him into this narrative. It may have been true about his high school and college career, but not necessarily his professional career.
Anyone who has followed basketball in recent years knows Curry was a part of one of the most dominant sports runs of all time with the Golden State Warriors. Over eight years, Curry’s team went to the NBA finals six times and won four times, an accomplishment the movie really glosses over, seemingly to better prove the film’s point. The “underrated” angle doesn’t entirely fit Curry, whose influence is apparent to most fans. His play style has completely changed the way basketball is played.
It feels at times like we’re watching Curry from a distance, instead of the in-depth, up close and personal tone that the documentary leads us into thinking in its first couple minutes. Curry’s interviews feel rehearsed and disingenuous at times, like he’s answering questions with the film’s narrative already in mind, rather than how he feels. Curry is certainly a likable guy, he shows throughout the movie in the more candid moments that he’s a great father and husband, but he feels guarded whenever he’s sitting down for an interview. With all this access to the basketball star, the movie often feels like a missed opportunity. Why not ask him about what was going on behind the scenes at some of the most pivotal moments of his NBA career? Why not get his perspective on how he envisions his legacy? Why not ask about how he sees the rest of his career playing out as he continues to age and injury concerns worsen? Part of what makes some of the best basketball documentaries, like Hoop Dreams and The Last Dance, is that its subjects feel genuine, something that isn’t entirely achieved here.
While I was underwhelmed with the project, it wasn’t completely worthless. Getting to see more of Curry will always be a delight, he’s continued to show that he’s one of the most remarkable athletes of his generation. Ironically, though, one of the things I enjoyed most about the movie didn’t directly have to do with Curry, but with the people around him. Getting to see some of Curry’s past teammates, coaches, and colleagues offer their perspectives on his journey delivered some of the nuances that I was looking for. It was especially nice to see people like Jason Richards, Curry’s college teammate, who have drifted out of the spotlight and have a different viewpoint than say, an active NBA player would. You can really feel Steph’s impact on the basketball world when someone like Richards speaks so highly of him. Seeing him reflecting on their journey and their friendship provided one of the more emotional moments in the movie.
Stephen Curry: Underrated is by no means a bad movie. For the most part, it does what it set out to do. It hits the major moments of Curry’s career and it makes the case that he’s an underrated player. Therein lies my major issue with the movie, in that it feels too safe and ambitionless. Unless you have two hours to spare or are completely new to basketball, if you want to know more about Stephen Curry’s career you’d probably be better off just skimming through a Wikipedia article.
Stephen Curry: Underrated is now streaming on AppleTV+
