i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

I saw this at a friend's house last week, prompted by memories of these people. It's a touching story about a common dream, the journey of unexpected adventure that takes you from a small Yugoslav city to the place of dreams, and how that dream was marred and grew sour when their country was torn apart, another common dream that was broken up.If journeys are not so much about where you finally end up but the transition from one life to the next, if looking back at the things that made the heart grow fond we find not attaining some goal as much as measuring yourself up against it and riding towards it, inhabiting all this sense of moving along, this is purely about a journey.It captured me by way of a sense I'm deeply attuned to; that the world is full of possible lives to explore, directly or vicariously through a camera, that there is no telling how these lives will pan out and the thrill all in setting out to see.

MICHAEL WINTERS -- How can anybody take your review seriously with that kind of atrocious spelling! It is, however, in keeping with your general lack of knowledge of this period. Having had the pleasure of spending time interviewing Dino Radja during his time with the Celtics, and learning more about the political climate, as well as Vlade's outlook, I'm happy to conclude that you are wrong on all fronts. By all accounts, Divac was remorseful both at the time, and in the aftermath, and I'm not buying into your bluster about laying hard fouls on Drazen. The rest of the Croatian players - Kukoc in particular - have nothing to gain by attaching their name to the documentary if they felt it was disingenuous. Kudos to ESPN for looking outside of the usual headlines in this - and other - 30 for 30's.

This was another sad-but-memorable episode in this series, a haunting one about the friendship and alienation between two great pro basketball players from Eastern Europe. Vlade Divic tells the story of he and his former best friend Drazen Petrovic, and what happened to that friendship. It's really sad.Yes, it's only told from Divac's side, but he comes across as an honest man. Maybe I'm naive, but I believed him.I don't want to give anything else away but this episode will tug at your heartstrings. It's a shame politics divides so many people.It's a bleak tale, but absolutely riveting.

30 for 30: Once Brothers (2010) **** (out of 4) Here we have yet another incredibly strong entry in ESPN's 30 FOR 30 series. This one here takes a look at the friendship between Vlade Divac and Drazen Petrovic as the two quickly rose to fame playing for the Yugoslovian National Team. They would eventually win a silver medal during the Olympics and both men would find their way to the NBA but their friendship would crumble after a war broke out in their country. During a national game Divac ended up doing something that would haunt him for the rest of his life and Petrovic would end up getting killed in a car wreck before the two could make up. It's funny but I've become a major fan of this series and most often the ones I'm worried about end up being some of the best episodes. That's certainly the case here because ONCE BROTHERS is a heartbreaking look at what war can do to someone and it also shows how precious moments can be lost in the matter of seconds and how one could end up going through life regretting something and not being able to make up with that one person close to you. The story of these two men was a very interesting one but the most fascinating stuff deals with the war and how it ripped them apart. Not only do you see the bloody battle that was going on in the country but you also realize what it could do to people living thousands of miles away. I thought the film did a wonderful job at showing the struggles the men were going through and this includes pressure put on them by their friends. Divac would end up having a very long career in the NBA but his friend would be killed just as he was starting to show his talent. The twists and turns in their story is something you'd laugh at or call unbelievable if you saw it in a movie but the final moments of this thing are incredibly touching even if they might have been set up. Either way, ONCE BROTHERS says a lot about friendship and, as Divac put it, the years it takes to build a friendship and the seconds it takes to destroy it.