★★½ The Boys of 2nd Street Park

[Twinkletoes: 2.5]

Twinkletoes says: 'This a documentary about a group of guys who grew up together in Brooklyn and spent much of their time playing basketball in the titular park. It deals with their youth and chronicles the divergent paths they took after high school and culminates with a reunion basketball game at the park they grew up on. I think this movie was tailor made for me as some of my favorite memories are of spending my teenage years playing basketball with my friends. The fact that this movie did not enthrall me is disappointing. The problem for me is that it all sounds nice but I'm not really sure if the material is worthy of a documentary. There is love, drug use, wanderlust, personal tragedy but is any of this really all that unique? Sure it's all probably a bit more interesting than the lives of me and my friends, but then again, no one is making a movie about us. Not helping matters was the film's lack of forward momentum. At times it felt like a bunch of anecdotes assembled together without much rhyme or reason. Not without some effective moments but ultimately just OK.'