Review: Steph Curry's Underrated documentary is worth watching even if you know the story

Just enjoy a good old-fashioned underdog success story

I finally watched Steph Curry’s Underrated documentary on Apple TV+. I had resisted watching for weeks. The early reviews were that this was a carefully sculpted and sanitized view of Steph Curry’s career — this was no The Last Dance. The documentary focuses on the parallel underdog playoff runs of the near-Final Four 2007 Davidson college team and the championship 2022 Golden State Warriors. I saw one clip which interleaved footage of Steph making shots with similar moves across both runs, and to be honest, I didn’t like it too much. I thought it concealed more than it revealed. So, since I know those stories pretty well and there were no new revelations, what was the point?

On the other hand, I know how the Bang Bang game ends, and I’ve rewatched that once or twice. Sometimes a great story is just worth watching again, especially with some new angles, new footage and refurbished video. And along the way, from the way the documentary is constructed, you do see the fingerprints of Steph Curry’s humble and generous nature.

One rather whiny review said the documentary manufactured drama by overstating Steph’s obstacles. For instance, the review dismissed the documentary’s lingering on his horrible college debut (13 turnovers) in gruesome detail, all the bad scouting reports and hot takes that the Warriors were finished.

This is called overthinking. That’s the response of someone who cannot hold two ideas at once that Steph was horribly underrated and that he simultaneously has privilege from family socioeconomic status, NBA connections, appearance, etc.

Steph did not NEED to show all 13 of his Day 1 turnovers, or the cringeworthy Davidson promo videos, or him clanking shots in the 2006 NCAA Tournament, or to show himself going 1-13 or so during the 2022 season. This is of a piece with Steph in general not taking himself too seriously in public.

Steph’s love for his Davidson team and his years there truly come through. The first two Davidson years were the times when Steph was truly deeply underrated. At that time, literally one little obscure school believed in him. (Yes, an NBA draft pick of #7 underrated him, but that’s still a high draft pick; and yes, you can argue the Warriors held him back, but that would have been a whole other movie’s worth on Don Nelson and Keith Smart.)

You can hear Steph’s affection for his one normal college year before things went nuts in Year 2. You can see his continuing appreciation for his team in the extensive camera time he gives Coach Bob McKillop and Assistant Coach Matt Matheny. Narratively, the film highlights McKillop’s decision to give Steph a second chance after a disastrous Game 1. Indeed, it’s presented as the turning point of Steph’s whole story.

The documentary also gives a fair amount of camera time to a number of Steph’s Davidson teammates. The Davidson teammates get the obligatory “I thought he sucked” moment that is required in any underdog story. But notably they all get to shine basketball-wise and not as Steph’s foils. They each get specific credit for heroics during the Davidson run: Jason Richards, Bryant Barr (what kind of nickname is The White Lobster??), Andrew Lovedale, and Thomas Sander.

Most memorable was the discussion of Lovedale’s big offensive rebound, which Jason Richards and Steph praised as the biggest play in Davidson basketball history (not the more obvious game-winning 3 by Steph that immediately resulted). Jason Richards even gets a painful moment where you can see how much it still kills him that he missed the shot that would have sent them to the Final Four.

In contrast, Warriors barely appear. Draymond briefly calls to smack talk Steph during the 2022 Michigan State - Davidson game. And Steph goes out of his way to show Kevin Durant dropping by to congratulate him for the three-point record and then afterwards, Steph says that KD is the most misunderstood guy in the NBA.

Some of the private details are charming. Steph’s kids are cute and any working parent will relate to watching Steph trying to write a paper (another subplot is Steph trying to finish his Davidson degree during the 2021-22 season) while Canon jumps over and over onto bubble wrap to explosive effect.

This is not a show with villains. Even Steph’s worst critics are not named or shown on camera. The closest to villainy is a story — meant to be charming but actually quite peculiar —about Mama Sonya taking away Steph’s phone because someone else texted him a curse word, which led to Steph’s not being able to respond to Davidson for days and days while they tried to recruit him.

So, did Underrated break new ground? Is there any juicy drama stirred up? Do you think about Steph Curry any differently? Is it worth getting Apple TV to watch it? Probably not.

But… there’s a time for reflection and a time for enjoying a light story. There’s still a place for just enjoying cops and robbers, Avengers beating up bad guys, simple adventure stories. And there’s a place for simple underdog success stories, especially when they are true and unlikely, and Underrated is an enjoyable and comfortable re-telling.