One of the weaknesses of the basketball drama Rez Ball is a predictable story – but it still manages to hit the mark

After losing their star player, a high school basketball team rich in Native American heritage must get back on its feet to keep its championship dreams alive. While the film showcases Navajo culture and recounts some of the community’s more difficult experiences, Vicci Ho can’t help but wish there was a little more nuance and depth.

Like the comfort food you order again and again because you know exactly what to expect, there are certain genres of films that are designed to be familiar. Most sports dramas tend to fall into this category – they’re usually inspirational, heartwarming, albeit exactly what you’d expect. The new Netflix high school basketball drama “Rez Ball” uses that backbone to tell a story of modern Native American life, with mixed results.

The Chuska Warriors, a high school basketball team from the Navajo Nation in New Mexico, are popular on the reservation with championship aspirations. The team’s star, Nataanii (Kusem Goodwind), returns to the team after losing his mother and sister in a car accident the previous season. The team is led by Coach Hobbs (Jessica Matten), who has returned to her hometown after a successful WNBA career and is determined to lead the team to a championship so she can pursue better coaching opportunities. However, when the team tragically loses Nataanii, his best friend Jimmy (Kauchani Bratt) and the team must learn to work together, play good rez ball, a fast-paced style of basketball popular on many reservations, and win the title against all odds.

Rez Ball was written and directed by Sydney Freeland, who co-wrote the screenplay with Sterlin Harjo (Reservation Dogs) and was inspired by Michael Powell’s non-fiction book Canyon Dreams Mexican Reservation. It depicts a community struggling with poverty, substance abuse, and intergenerational trauma: drunk driving, which killed half of Nataanii’s family, is commonplace in the community, while Jimmy’s mother’s, due to her own basketball disappointments and problems With the sobriety he rejected his game and just wants him to work more shifts.

The film showcases Navajo culture and doesn’t shy away from some of the more difficult experiences the community faces, but one can’t help but wish there was a bit more nuance and depth – much of what is discussed is told by the commentators calling the basketball game and literally telling the audience how to think.

The film never quite manages to pull its two halves together into a coherent whole, and frustratingly lacks any deeper development of both the sports drama and the character drama to make for a more compelling play. The basketball season is rushed, as evidenced most notably by a brisk recap montage that lacks intensity, and the film’s so-called “villain,” a racist white player on an opposing team, seems almost cartoonish. While the cast is charming enough to make the film entertaining, the characters seem too two-dimensional, making Rez Ball extremely predictable.

While one can see the potential for a more original and complex film in Rez Ball, we still have a thoroughly entertaining film with a strong Native American cast. With LeBron James as one of its producers, it should find a good audience on Netflix. You’ll probably figure out where the Rez Ball is going and how it’s going to end, but like any comfort food you order over and over again, it’ll still hit the spot.