Apple TV+ debuted the official trailer for Stephen Curry: Underrated, the documentary chronicling Curry’s rise from an undersized college player to a four-time NBA champion.
Directed by Peter Nicks, the documentary world premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival, and will open in select theaters and globally on Apple TV+ with a release date of July 21, 2023.
The remarkable coming-of-age story of one of the most influential, dynamic and unexpected players in the history of basketball: Stephen Curry. This feature documentary — blending intimate cinéma vérité, archival footage and on camera interviews — documents Curry’s rise from an undersized college player at a small town Division I college to a four-time NBA champion, building one of the most dominant sports dynasties in the world.
In its review (3 of 5 stars / B) Collider wrote, “For all the ways that it will primarily appeal to most of those who have followed Curry already, there is also something more it offers to those that may not be familiar with the athlete at all. Hell, even if you’re less than a fan of him because he has beaten your favorite team there may be something that you appreciate in learning a bit more about him. Following his early years of basketball through college that parallels with the present, it avoids the trap of trying to cover everything and encapsulates how key moments in Curry’s life continue to inform his career.”
IndieWire’s review was a little tougher (also giving the film 3 of 5 stars / B-), writing, “Maybe it’s because this film’s perception of Curry is of a player too talented and fueled by the joy of the long-range shot to be petty or spiteful. Maybe it’s his later success that keeps his Davidson stint from feeling like the open wound it clearly still is for at least one of his teammates. Whatever the reason, “Underrated” ends up feeling like something better suited for a different medium. The speed run through the end of Curry’s 2021-22 season with the Warriors, in particular, feels like a missed opportunity, a lack of runway, or a film butting up against its own self-appointed purpose. Closer to a magazine piece than a doc — it’s probably not a coincidence this will arrive somewhere near the 15th anniversary of that ’08 Davidson team’s Cinderella tournament run — it also has the feeling of a write-around profile that managed to get some time with its main subject after all. Curry has had a fascinating past two decades, something that “Underrated” does an effective job of capturing. But in harnessing what was always there in full view, there’s not much else here to add.”
Watch the official trailer for Stephen Curry: Underrated.