Parents' Guide to

The Inside Story

By Martin Brown, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 12+

Unnecessary doc celebrates shallow side of sports showbiz.

TV Max, TNT Variety Show 2021
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Sports media has become dominated by its loudest voices, not its smartest, sincerest, or its funniest; sadly the aspects of Inside the NBA this docu focuses on are its loudest, its most obnoxious. There are moments where sincerity creeps in to The Inside Story, like in its discussion of Ernie Johnson's battle with cancer, or in the brief moments they bring the guys typically behind the camera out front. But mostly, The Inside Story is clips of Shaq and Charles Barkley talking smack, and then having other people talk about how great they are. The way Shaq and Barkley talk to current NBA athletes is often condescending and demeaning, but The Inside Story spends a lot of its run time carrying water for them, justifying their old-man-yells-at-cloud crotchetiness. Self-aggrandizement is standard for this type of documentary, but here they're celebrating aspects of the media that probably shouldn't be lauded, and not in a smart or funny way.

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