Basketball film too sickly-sweet

UNSHACKLED is the story of two men poisoned by racism and sentenced to spend the rest of their lives in Georgia’s State Penitentiary.

Harold Morris (Burgess Jenkins) and Marcus Doc Odomes (James Black) do have one thing in common, they are both top-class basket players.

Their lives eventually collide when the authorities decide to integrate the prison. It was the last prison in America to do so, but this is Georgia after all.

After a riot set off by a basketball game, Warden Kelso (Stacey Keach) decides to kick-start the integration programme by throwing the two Michael Jordan wannabees into the same cell.

The wardens and inmates are taking bets on who’ll kill who first.

Despite a few early teething problems, and the odd punch-up or two, they both decide life’s going to be a little easier if they go with the flow.

In an attempt to get the rest of the prison in line with the programme Warden Kelso gets Morris and Odomes to recruit inmates to play in the first organised integrated basketball game in the history of the prison.

With their new focus Morris and Odomes learn to live with one another, learn from each other and finally, a friendship, based on mutual respect, develops.

This is the kind of triumph over hatred and racism film we’ve seen plenty of times before. You just know from the start everything is going to end up smelling of roses.

It’s a feelgood film that’s a little too goody-goody.

Jenkins and Black give solid performances and do the best with the limited amount of ammunition they’re given.

Morgan Fairchild supplies an unexpected highlight as Mrs Miller, the prison’s nurse turned psychologists.

Try as she may this poor soul just can’t act. Playing a scene with her must have had her fellow stars pleading for solitary confinement.

Drama,12. 2/5.