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Stream It Or Skip It?

You probably know about the yelling, if nothing else. But how much do you really know about John McEnroe? In McEnroe, a new documentary film on Showtime, we get an in-depth look into the life and career of the decorated–and famously-volatile–tennis star… The story behind the screams.

MCENROE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: It’s hard to imagine the world of tennis without John McEnroe in it. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he was arguably the best player in the world, becoming the only male player ever to simultaneously achieve the #1 ranking in the world in both singles and doubles play. He played an electric style of tennis, winning big and winning often, but became just as well-known for his personality–often loudly and profanely berating judges during matches. He created a character that loomed larger than his already-impressive resume, one that he’s spent the ensuing decades inhabiting as a commentator and elder figure in the sport. In McEnroe, a feature-length documentary look at his life and career, McEnroe and a few of his contemporaries seek to paint a broader, more complex picture of the figure he cast.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: There’s been a spate of tennis content releasing on streaming lately, from HBO’s Arthur Ashe documentary Citizen Ashe to Netflix’s UNTOLD: Breaking Point, which follows the rise and collapse of would-be star Mardy Fish. McEnroe complements these films well, offering another compelling personal drama in a sport full of them.

Performance Worth Watching: A handful of McEnroe’s family members and contemporaries step in for interviews; the most exciting and compelling of those come from fellow tennis great Billie Jean King, who offers incisive insights into the way McEnroe visualizes the game.

Memorable Dialogue: “My mom used to love to tell the story of when my dad came home from law school,” McEnroe’s brother recalls, offering context for how their family upbringing formed his competitiveness, “and said ‘hey, I finished second’, and she said, ‘well, who finished first?’ John had a little bit of that.”

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: “I’m the greatest player that’s ever played at this point. Why does it not feel amazing?” This lament, from the now-familiar voice of John McEnroe–a voice anyone who’s watched a shred of tennis in the past half-century is surely familiar with–sets the tone early on in McEnroe. His voice–that same voice known for screaming at line judges or for decades of post-retirement work as a commentator–is tinged with regret, with a suggestion that, despite all his successes, John McEnroe knows he could’ve done a lot differently.

Any time an athlete participates in a biographical documentary, it’s reasonable to be wary of it being a work of PR-burnishing hagiography; I’ve certainly watched more than a few that are little more than infomercials for an athlete’s own greatness. On the surface, at least, that’s not the case with McEnroe, which plays as more of an apologia than a celebration.

Perhaps that’s a form of image-management as well; when you’re known best for being a bit of a jerk, you might as well own it and try to explain it.

The filmmakers have taken a highly-stylized approach to the storytelling here. McEnroe is seen in a sparse, dimly-lit room, then walking around the streets of his hometown of Douglaston, Queens at night; the whole thing’s set up to play like a late-night confessional. A shot of McEnroe walking onto an empty train platform suddenly dissolves into a TRON-like visualization of his tennis mechanics, while his family and contemporaries discuss him like he’s not even there. It’s almost done in past tense, like they’re describing a man who no longer exists, and perhaps that’s their intention, to describe the character McEnroe–the imagined McEnroe, the figure from all those old videos–as someone that exists in the past, separate from the real person.

Overall, McEnroe is a solid, well-constructed piece of biographical documentary, but ultimately it’s probably not going to change your opinion of the man too much. It paints him as a complex, brooding figure sharply focused on winning and brusque about everything else, but we pretty much knew that. It might have been more successful without his participation–if it were strictly constructed from the perspectives of those around him, it could play less as an attempt to explain away his behavior. Still, it’s pretty successful at telling an entertaining story, even if it’s one you’ve mostly heard before.

Our Call: STREAM IT. It might not draw in non-sports fans, but if you love tennis, you’ll find something to enjoy in McEnroe.

Scott Hines is an architect, blogger and proficient internet user based in Louisville, Kentucky who publishes the widely-beloved Action Cookbook Newsletter.

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