Parents' Guide to Untold: Shooting Guards

Shot after Javaris Crittenton's release in 2023, this documentary is an insightful behind-the-scenes look at an event that greatly shaped his life. Throughout Untold: Shooting Guards, Crittenton fascinatingly and earnestly retells his story, which found him and Gilbert Arenas bringing guns to the Washington Wizards locker room one day. Crittenton shares his humble background that eventually led to his being drafted into the NBA. But he only found isolation and depression as a vulnerable and sensitive 19-year-old who was not equipped well to easily let slide Arenas' bullying behavior. In many ways, this film is a tragedy more about Crittenton than the (much more famous) Arenas, who also provides honest and earnest background information.

Apologetic from the get-go, Arenas is clearly not proud of his younger behavior and finds what happened to Crittenton unfair in many ways. So, this documentary is smart to not focus much on Arenas' career or accomplishments at all, highlighting more how this event is an example of what can happen when young men don't get the support and structure they need to face the adult, confrontational, troll-heavy, real world. To complicate matters further, the film also doesn't shy away from framing Crittenton's arguably unfair early release as unjust. While the film doesn't ask the question directly, it nevertheless prompts it indirectly through the victim's (Julian Jones) family when they exclaim that they "still don't understand it."