Affleck and Damon reteam for the buoyant sports drama, ‘Air’

Though they’ve worked together often over the years, “Air” indeed feels like the first full-throttle Ben Affleck-Matt Damon collaboration since “Good Will Hunting.”

The duo recently shared a few scenes in Ridley Scott’s terrific and woefully underseen “The Last Duel” in 2021 (Damon and Affleck also co-wrote that script with Nicole Holofcener). Good as it is, “The Last Duel” isn’t the breeziest of subject matter to lure adult audiences back to theaters.

In “Air,” Affleck returns to the director’s chair to guide his buddy Damon in the role of Sonny Vaccaro, a talent scout at Nike circa 1984 who urges the company to secure soon-to-be NBA rookie Michael Jordan as the face of Nike’s fledgling basketball-shoe division. Nike’s CEO Phil Knight (Affleck in a lively and funny supporting role) sees it as too big of a risk, and even Sonny’s biggest cheerleaders (Jason Bateman as marketing exec Rob Strasser and Chris Tucker as exec Howard White) express doubt that Jordan would want to come to Nike’s undercooked basketball division instead of the more popular competition, Converse and Adidas.

So Sonny makes a bold move: He travels to Jordan’s family home in North Carolina to engage the basketball star’s parents, Deloris and James (Viola Davis and Julius Tennon).

The fact-based-but-embellished screenplay by Alex Convery wisely keeps Michael Jordan out of the story, instead relying on archival footage and creative editing to hide MJ’s face. The core of the negotiations boils down to establishing a shared vision between Sonny and Delores, with Davis’s handful of scenes serving as the core dramatic anchor to the story.

Much of “Air” focuses on the behind-the-scenes scrambling by Sonny and the crew at Nike as they try to develop a shoe and marketing hook worthy of a future legend. Damon, playing the irascible-but-passionate Sonny, gets ample opportunity to yell at his various co-stars. Affleck and Bateman have some strong, sharp-witted material as friendly adversaries to Sonny, and Tucker especially makes the most of his screentime as one of the few people in the office to understand Sonny’s lofty intentions.

“Air” is mostly breezy and entertaining R-rated fare (Affleck and Damon pull out their “Good Will Hunting” potty mouths), though those with even passing familiarity with Michael Jordan and the rise of “Air Jordan” won’t be rewarded with many new insights.

Released in theaters by Amazon Studios, it’s nice to see a movie like “Air” exist as counterprogramming to mega-franchises like this week’s “Super Mario Bros.” It made a respectable debut at the box office against “Mario,” but Amazon will surely want a lot more eyeballs to justify “Air’s” $90 million budget (Why did it cost so much? The whole movie takes place in an office building).

It’s nevertheless a worthy entry into the “TNT Sunday Afternoon” staple of light-footed sports movies that don’t contain many scenes of on-the-court/on-the-field athletics. “Air” isn’t as good as “Moneyball,” but it’s about as good as “Ford v. Ferrari,” better than “Draft Day,” and right on an even playing field with “Hustle.” A good, solid double, if we’re mixing-and-matching the sports metaphors.

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Tyler Wilson is a member of the International Press Academy and has been writing about movies for Inland Northwest publications since 2000, including a regular column in The Press since 2006. He can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com.