Having the name “The Chosen One” since you were 15 years old can put a lot of pressure on a kid that age. 

But for Lebron James it wasnt pressure, it was just basketball, something he’s been doing since he was 10 years old. 

The movie “Shooting Stars” is about professional basketball player Lebron James and his 4 childhood friends rise to stardom in the highschool basketball world. 

The four other friends are Dru Joyce, Willie Mcgee, Romeo Travis, and Sian Cotton. 

This biopic will be very appealing to basketball players and Lebron James fans all over the world because it shows the highs and lows of Lebron’s teenage basketball years and his journey to get to the NBA.

However, this film doesn’t just cover Lebron, but his relationship with his childhood friends.

The film does a really good job of going back into Lebron and his 4 friends’ childhood and making sure the viewers understand that they have been friends although the movie has multiple flashbacks and cut scenes.  

An example of this in the film is them playing on the same church league basketball team as 6 year olds, to them being friends since then to playing for the same highschool basketball team, to them being friends for life. 

Something else the movie does that helps is that kids that are the correct age are actually playing the characters they’re based on so it can connect more to the youth. 

The actors in this movie are characters from previous youth shows and top basketball recruits in the country.

People like Mookie Cook, a Oregon University Basketball Commit and a former player of lebron’s AAU basketball team, Jett Howard a Michigan University basketball player and NBA draft prospect, and Caleb Mclaughlin from the TV series Stranger Things really slip into his role as Dru Joyce.

Although for some of the character actors, it was their first time acting, but you could’ve fooled me. The emotions they showed were authentic and it showed in the tone of certain scenes. 

The film isn’t just about Lebron’s friendship though as it also showcases Lebron’s love life, in how he met his now wife Savannah at a high school party. 

Something else the film does well are the basketball scenes. With the players doing basketball doing euro step moves and multiple alley oop passes it really connected to the youths style of basketball 

It would’ve been cool to see an after highschool scene instead of the movie telling us what the friend group did through on screen text. 

Everyone in the basketball world knows Lebron went to the NBA straight out of high school. But not everyone knows that other friends in his friend group went on to play college sports at Akron University and Ohio State University as well, which would’ve been nice to see. 

It might be a little extra to ask for as a viewer, but some feel as though it would have made the movie feel more complete. 

“Shooting Stars” is a good movie to watch if you’re interested in the life of Lebron James, and his journey throughout high school along with the relationships he made along the way.