The Reel Review
When the president of the Los Angeles Waves pro basketball team ends up in drug rehab, he chooses his younger sister Isla over their two brothers to take over running the team in his absence. With the once great team now in a losing streak, can she rebuild them to success and win over her many doubters? Kate Hudson stars in this Netflix sports comedy series loosely based on L.A. Lakers owner Jeanie Buss.
The series, from Mindy Project creators Mindy Kaling, Ike Barinholtz, Elaine Ko and David Stassen, is VERY MUCH like Ted Lasso with a friendlier bit of Succession thrown in for good measure. Isla’s office even looks a lot like the office of Hannah Waddingham’s Rebecca in Ted Lasso. Chocked full of characters and cameo appearances, the comedy series has plenty of laughs as well as a big heart – case in point: the conference room scene with the concessions vendor/newly discovered half-brother played by a terrific Fabrizio Guido (Mr. Iglesias) in Episode 2. Hudson’s channels her mother Goldie Hawn’s charm as Isla, who it turns out, has a head for business and basketball. Other notables are Brenda Song (The Last Showgirl) as her assistant, Scott MacArthur (The Righteous Gemstones) as her screw-up brother Ness and Chet Hanks (son of Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson) as the player making the most trouble for Isla.
Like Ted Lasso, Running Point crams a lot of subplots into its ten 30-minute episodes and sometimes the series feels like an attempt to rehabilitate the image of billionaire sports team owners, but even with its sometimes corny humor, Running Point is still a fun, sweet crowd-pleaser about women in the predominately male-dominated pro sports industry.
REEL FACTS
• L.A. Lakers owner Jeanie Buss is an executive producer of Running Point.
• Scott Evans, who plays Drew’s boyfriend Charlie, is the brother of actor Chris Evans.
• Nicole Sullivan (Mad TV) appears in Episode 6 as player Travis Bugg’s co-dependent mom Bonnie.
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