Having made his mark as a director through East Coast crime thrillers, Ben Affleck choosing the creation of the Nike Air Jordan for his next helmed production seems like an odd move. But when considering The Way Back, an otherwise middling film that is nonetheless a vital part of Affleck’s recent creative history in the personal struggle that he went through to get it made, getting back into the world of American basketball looks like a sign that he’s in a better place now than he used to be. But while his dramatisation of this moment in celebrity sports history has its fun moments, it also contains some of his most peculiar creative decisions to date.

The presentation, for instance. Between the ‘Best of the ‘80s’ playlist that is used as the entirety of the soundtrack here, and the aggressive amounts of stock footage and contemporaneous product placement, it can feel less like it’s establishing its place in history, and more like a need to keep reminding the audience that the film does indeed take place in the 1980s. One would think that seeing Phil Knight (Affleck)’s purple monstrosity of a car would’ve gotten that across just fine on its own, but that’s what we get.

Same goes for the presence of Michael Jordan in the story proper. Or, more accurately, his lack of presence, since the film only ever shoots him from the back and he rarely, if ever, speaks on-screen. Given the narrative focus on the Air Jordan shoes as part of his celebrity image, it comes across like it’s building up to some kind of big reveal but only ends up being quite distracting in the end. Not as distracting as the hairpieces Affleck and Jason Bateman have been saddled with, but distracting, nonetheless.

With Jordan in the background, the story is told from the perspective of Nike salesman, compulsive gambler, and amateur fortune-teller Sonny Vaccaro (Matt Damon). The story focuses on the colossal risk Nike was taking with the Jordan deal, bringing out a lot of light comedy about the specifics of getting Jordan on-board with the shoeline.

Damon and Affleck working in a lighter, more Kevin Smith-esque tone gives them plenty of likeability and precision F-strikes to work with, and their supporting cast – from a top-form Chris Tucker and Marlon Wayans, to Bateman, to Viola Davis as Michael’s mother (a casting choice suggested by the man himself, and a damn good one at that) – stay in lockstep with them throughout.

Air, while marred by unorthodox and jarring aesthetic choices (Matt Damon’s climactic speech could’ve done without the career downlights montage playing over it), manages to breeze by off the back of its engaging cast, relatively outsider-friendly depiction of the inside of the industry, and just generally fun and snippy dialogue from Alex Convery with additional rewrites from Affleck and Damon. It glides rather than achieve proper flight, but just manages to make the basket.

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