Ballers Review

Looking at the lives of former and current football players, the show follows former superstar Spencer Strasmore (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) as he gets his life on track in retirement while mentoring other current and former players through the daily grind of the business of football.

Ballers is a touchdown right from the very first episode. If you're a fan of character development with an enrich engage story, that also gives you a taste of a slice of life, then Ballers is definitely the show for you. As previous stated in the synopsis the show follows Spencer Strassmore as he is dealing with life outside the NFL. Like any superstar no matter the profession, life outside the limelight can be a struggle. Ballers does a wonderful job of giving you characters from various spectrum in the business. You have wide receiver Ricky Jerret played by John David Washington. Ricky is a season vet in the NFL. However he is very reckless and tends to get a lot of bad press. After an altercation at a nightclub he will have to decide what is more important the fast lane or his career. In the first two episodes that we viewed at the screening. I found myself really enjoying his character arc. Here you have a guy that has it all but really doesn't appreciate what he has. Only when a certain event happens is he force to analyze himself (no spoilers)

Other supporting characters are really solid additions as well. The two other players Vernon played by Donovan W. Carter and Charles Greene played by Omar Benson Miller are enjoyable to watch. Greene is like Johnson trying to adjust to life after football. He wasn't a huge star as his friends and he is now living with his girlfriend, and he is unemployed. He still has the itch to get back into but is trying to adjust to the 9 to 5 life. I like Greene character arc because its the most light hearted of the 3 players. Finally Vernon the best player in the league. He has the most intriguing character arc besides Ricky and Spencer. He is a young athlete who has a lot of leeches. He is trying to save all his friends from the neighborhood and they are sucking him dry. Vernon relationship with Spencer (Johnson) is one of the main focal points of the story. Spencer having done it all in the business like blowing his money, driving the fast cars, the women is trying to help his friends on a more calm path in the fast lane. 

All of the arcs of the supporting cast leads to the main arc of Spencer. He has no money, trying to make it as a financial advisor to his friends. I'm curious how he and his business partners will balance the three personalities together. Overall Ballers is a touchdown right from the gate. The first two episodes were solid, well paced and balance humor and drama pretty well. The acting is great all around. Each actor kept me immersed in this world and made me believe in their plight. Music is comes from today's Hip Hop artist with Drake providing lyrics to the theme song. Direction and location really gave me the life of a superstar and what better place than Miami.

My only complaint is that the female characters are not as strong, or come off as the typical social climber that some stars encounter. HBO has another hit on their hands. Gear up your in for a ride. 

Ballers premieres June 21st 10:00PM on HBO.