Directed By Martin Guigui

Starring – Everett Osborne, Jeremy Piven, Richard Dreyfuss

The Plot – Hall of Famer Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton (Osborne) makes history as the first African American to sign an NBA contract, forever changing how the game of basketball is played.

Rated PG-13 for some racial slurs, violence and smoking

SWEETWATER | Official Trailer | Only in Theatres – April 14 – YouTube

POSITIVES

For all that “Sweetwater” lacks in compelling structure and presentation, it balances out with the benefit of a star-studded ensemble that not only elicits a few stirring turns between them, but also gives Briarcliff Productions what is easily their most ambitious project to date. While there’s certainly nothing here deserving of awards praise, the work of Osborne, Piven and Cary Elwes in particular elicited a finely-tuned balance of emotional versatility and personality that afforded them the freedom to escape the clutches of one-dimensional characterization, and when held in tow with appearances from Dreyfuss, Kevin Pollak, Jim Caviezel, and Eric Roberts, supplants enough stirring interest to keep audiences invested in the many dynamics that each of them share, with some like Elwes immersing himself seamlessly into the inflections of the age. Beyond the benefits of a decorated ensemble, the film’s stuffy and overburdened script manages to get one element coherently illustrated, and that’s in this tragic element to Sweetwater’s advanced game that ultimately served as the inspiration for flashy icons like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, who took the game to soaring heights. Because Sweetwater played during a time when racism unfortunately dominated the game, on and off of the courts, his impact on the game wasn’t as firmly implimented as he deserved, demeaning his merit to thankless appreciation that unfortunately went to aforementioned players that came decades after he retired. The film’s tone doesn’t imbed itself in this throughout the duration, but you can’t help but feel a profound sense of sorrow for the icon, moments after the on-screen text conveys him as one of the many players who were confined by the age that they unfortunately played in.

NEGATIVES

I’ve rarely ever been impressed by a celebrity biopic, but “Sweetwater” landed dead on arrival with a lethargic approach to its storytelling that left me with more questions than answers after a nearly two hour engagement. In some sense, the film is insulting, with the script dedicated towards following the white coaches and ownership more than the titular protagonist, leading to a complete void of off-court relevance for who Sweetwater truly was, in which the film never feels interested in pursuing, but in others it’s just downright irresponsible, attaining the least amount of effort to moments involving racism, secondary characters, or corresponding themes. When the film does decide to invest in Sweetwater, we’re supplanted with a few key aspects of his life, like how he attained the nickname, or his troubled love-life with soul singer Jeanne Staples, but never the kind of pursuit or dedication that fleshes them out beyond just temporary inclusions to fill a run time. On that aspect as well, the film’s pacing feels continuously stunted by one-off scenes of exposition and a cluttered structure that often makes it difficult to remain invested throughout the many herky jerky directions throughout Sweetwater’s life that it spontaneously expunges us to. It’s one of those films that sloppily begins with a flashback inside of a flashback, and one whose plot device grows all the more unnecessary the longer the film avoids it, leaving me wondering why they didn’t just attempt to tell this story in real time to leave as many minutes dedicated exclusively to the part of Sweetwater’s story that truly matters. It also could’ve been made easier with some sembelance of personality, as too many of these scenes are captured through the depths of such one-dimensional emotionality that it offers little for audiences to eagerly invest in. Such an example of this pertains to last week’s “Air”, in which director Ben Affleck cleverly used humor as a means to hook his audience into the long-winded diatribes of his business-driven characters and terminology. Here, humor doesn’t even register in the confines of these scenes or effort of Guigui’s lazy directing, leaving us with limited levity against a film that indulges in beating down its protagonist as much as the world surrounding him. The production values are also plagued by an unflattering style and lifeless in-game choreography that continuously alienates investment and appeal to the engagement, with laughable levels of energy and excitement that make for a film that feels like it was made in 1950, but for all of the wrong reasons. The cinematography is watered down with an element of unnatural lighting that constantly breeds artificiality to the presentation, and the sequencing of game play, with overindulgence of editing, is performed so slowly and lifeless that it not only lacks believability in the establishing of the Harlem Globetrotters, but also kept me from investing in the nail-biting emphasis of basketball’s unfolding drama, which should be the easiest thing to capture in front of the screen. Finally, it’s clear that Briarcliff didn’t exactly receive the blessing of those involved with the NBA or even the Harlem Globetrotters, as team logos or arena likenesses aren’t even faintly captured accurately in their usage. The worst part is easily in a film pertaining to the Harlem Globetrotters that doesn’t even include “Sweet Lou”, the legendary Globetrotters theme that ushered them onto the court. If a film pertaining to one of Harlem’s greatest playmakers can’t even attain the rights to a 15 second track, it should’ve never been conceived to begin with, especially in wasting away the most charismatic team that the game has ever seen.

OVERALL
“Sweetwater” is an anemically disappointing biopic that wastes away the impact of one of basketball’s most influential players with lazy execution behind nearly every aspect. Surface level exploration, unflattering production values and meandered pacing are just a few of the teammates that undercut Nat’s on-screen potential, solidifying a tastelessly barebones approach to such a remarkable story that should never feel this forgettable.

My Grade: 3/10 or F+