‘We Beat the Dream Team’ Puts a Twist on the Sports Movie Formula
Whether documentary or fiction, the sports movie template is so well-worn — we were underdogs, then we won, and it was amazing — that it’s rare to execute a new twist on the formula. And in some ways, “We Beat the Dream Team” streaming on Max, directed by Michael Tolajian, follows that recipe. players: Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, John Stockton, David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, Chris Mullin, Clyde Drexler and, of course, Michael Jordan. Instead, as then-college player Grant Hill says, “We were the crash test dummies.” Arriving at the training facility feeling both salty and star-struck, they were ready to hit the court and aware they were specifically there to lose.
Whether documentary or fiction, the sports movie template is so well-worn — we were underdogs, then we won, and it was amazing — that it’s rare to execute a new twist on the formula. And in some ways, “We Beat the Dream Team” streaming on Max, directed by Michael Tolajian, follows that recipe. players: Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, John Stockton, David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, Chris Mullin, Clyde Drexler and, of course, Michael Jordan. Instead, as then-college player Grant Hill says, “We were the crash test dummies.” Arriving at the training facility feeling both salty and star-struck, they were ready to hit the court and aware they were specifically there to lose.
To tell the story, Tolajian assembled those players, many of whom including Hill, Chris Webber, Allan Houston and Penny Hardaway had their own starry N.B.A. But I didn’t know this story and, as it turns out, lots of people don’t, for reasons that the documentary eventually makes clear.
So I don’t want to spoil it, except to say that this is where the film diverges from the deeply dug ruts of its genre. The results are delightful: It’s rare to see a documentary airing out a long-running beef as beautifully, good-naturedly and enjoyably as this one.
