In January of 2023, Underrated, a documentary produced by Apple, was released on Apple TV plus. Underrated is a documentary that highlights NBA star Stephen Curry’s rise to stardom at the highest level of professional basketball. The show takes us through Curry’s journey, from his early life constantly being around basketball, to his college days at a small-town Division-1 college, to his ultimate breakout in the league. This is a documentary that received great feedback from the masses, scoring 85% on rotten tomatoes.
Apple placed a particular focus on the journey that Curry had to take. While he was born into an NBA family, with his father being a former NBA player, Stephen was often overlooked when it came to his own abilities on the court. The main gripe from others was his lack of size, which caused scouts to have concerns about his ability at the collegiate level. However, he was given a chance by a smaller college, Davidson University. While his college career didn’t get off to the most ideal start, he was able to pick it up, and quickly became one of the most dangerous players in all of college basketball.
The main highlight of the entire documentary was Curry’s incredible run during the 2008 NCAA Tournament. Davidson entered the tournament as the 10 seed, with little to no expectations at all. Curry quickly changed that, as in their first game against Gonzaga, he lit them up for 40 points, cruising to the first round win. Apple emphasized this as the game that really put him on the map, and it was only the beginning. Davidson would make a magical run all the way to the Elite Eight before finally falling to the eventual National Champions, the Kansas Jayhawks. The documentary highlights this run as the most impactful moment of Curry’s career. They emphasize the fact that this run put him on the map as someone who can contribute at the next level. It solidified his name among the best shooters in the world.
As a whole, the documentary did a great job of taking viewers through the struggles that Stephen Curry had to go through during his early life in basketball. Despite being the son of an NBA player, he was constantly doubted from an early age, and those doubts would stick with him all the way up until his early NBA career. The main problem that I had with the documentary was that I thought it was made a bit more dramatic than necessary. There were moments where it felt like the situations that Curry was in were not nearly as detrimental as they made it seem. For example, the idea of him only being able to go to Davidson was made a much bigger deal than it really was in an effort to fit the idea of him being “underrated”. However, while I was skeptical about the title, as Curry is one of the best NBA players to ever play, and I don’t think it was completely fitting, the Underrated title was certainly fitting in multiple ways.
