With a Netflix rollout that featured highly anticipated titles like The Umbrella Academy, the Jaws movies, and Hairspray, High Flying Bird surprisingly went under the radar. The movie follows Erick Scott, a top NBA draft pick, through an NBA lockout that is stopping him from getting paid. When most players would sit and wait for an agreement to be reached, Erick Scott and his agent Ray Burke have a plan to push the league and the owners onto the hot seat.

Although the true story was interesting and intriguing you could tell the movie was produced on a smaller budget. The acting was noticeably subpar. I know that they can’t get Hollywood A-listers on all of the Netflix movies, however, it would have been nice to have at least the two main characters be strong actors. You can especially notice that Melvin Gregg, who played Erick Scott, seemed out of place multiple times throughout the movie. So the acting was probably a 6.5/10.

Another main feature of any movie is the scenery. And let me start by saying, the scenery wasn’t any better than the acting. Now I understand they are in New York and that almost every office in New York has already been used in a TV show or movie before, but even with that being said they did a bad job with the office space they used, the outdoor spaces were not at all interesting, and on top of all that, the basketball court they used didn’t look staged at all. In a really bad way. So that is why I am confident in giving the scenery a 6/10.

Not only did this movie give viewers an inside look at what really goes on behind the scenes to make the leagues work, but they also gave off a lasting jab to the four major sports leagues (NHL, NBA, MLB, NFL). Which, as a sports fan, really made me think: What if the league was controlled by the players rather than the money of the owners? Do the players actually have the power to make the league come to them rather than settling for a deal from the league?

These questions brought up not only red flags to me, but should also bring up a numerous number of questions for current professional athletes and those involved in sports; that is not something that is easy to do. So yes, it was a budget movie, and yeah the film work itself could’ve been better, but whoever wrote it deserves a round of applause. It takes a special writer to make viewers question the way something so concrete works.

Overall I would give this movie a 7/10, mainly because although the story was exquisite, you can only go so far with a small budget and mediocre acting.