Air: Courting a Legend

 

Actor / director Ben Affleck's Air: Courting a Legend takes the A-lister's famous masculine verbosity and applies it fully to a wonderful script by first-timer Alex Covery to tell the story of one Nike brand visionary, Sonny Vaccaro (Affleck's BFF and co-Oscar winner Matt Damon), who executes a plan to sign a young Michael Jordan to the company's fledgling and floundering basketball division.

For much of the film -- which is based on true events -- Vaccaro is a voice in the wilderness in his conviction that Jordan, who has been clear he favors Adidas shoes and gear, could be signed if the right pitch was crafted and the right approach taken.

Working outside of corporate parameters set by Zen master / CEO Phil Knight (Affleck) and industry protocols, Vaccaro makes an end-run around Jordan's agent David Falk (a hilariously profane Chris Messina) to call on Jordan's parents in Wilmington, N.C., Deloris (Viola Davis) and James (Julius Tennon). It's a gamble that the craps-playing Vaccaro knows might end his career, but he sees something in Jordan that others have glossed over --a hunger to dominate on the court. Greatness.

Because there is no mystery to how this will play out, Affleck invests most of the film's energy in the art of the deal -- inside basketball, if you will.

The movie features priceless exchanges between Vaccaro and Knight, marketing executive Rob Strasser (Jason Bateman), brand manager Howard White (Chris Tucker), and shoe designer Peter Moore (Matthew Maher) and a painfully tone-deaf pitch meeting among all of these players and the Jordans.

The meeting is excruciating but leads up to a terrific monologue by Vaccaro that capsulizes the picture's message about authenticity, image and enterprise.

Despite his off-screen antics (or perhaps because of them), Affleck is a wonderfully affecting film director, as assured as they come with the right material and cast, as in Oscar-winner Argo (2012). In Air, Affleck has a winning combination of the right words and a team of a sharp, intuitive players, with Damon's Vaccaro the MVP.

It's a great ride with an '80s arena anthem soundtrack.