Critic Reviews

The essential concerns of "The Scheme" actually fit into our current situation. That it does so in an entertaining manner — there are a number of laugh aloud moments here — is partly thanks to director Pat Kondelis, but the real reason this documentary works is because of a charismatic basketball wizard from Saginaw named Christian Dawkins.

If you're missing the NCAA tournament, HBO's The Scheme will make you less wistful -- or at least, provide a reminder of big-money college basketball's grimy underbelly, exploring a corruption scandal that makes the NCAA look bad, and actually makes the FBI look worse.

In Pat Kondelis’ meticulously crafted and sometimes farcically funny documentary, Dawkins tells his side of the story in great detail. ... At times “The Scheme” goes so deep into the weeds it’s tough to keep track of all the characters and the web of corruption, though some charts and graphics prove to be helpful.

The fact that the U.S. government wasted so much time and resources poorly trying to push into one corner of this behemoth of corruption and greed is the real story here. And it’s well-told.

The Scheme lays out its saga via prolonged interviews with Dawkins, which inevitably slants the material in his favor. Since Dawkins often undersells his somewhat shadier practices, that bias is occasionally frustrating, leaving the documentary feeling less than wholly reliable—an issue compounded by unnecessary and chintzy dramatic recreations starring Dawkins himself. Nonetheless, neither shortcoming is enough to interfere with the film’s lucid recount of the ensuing ordeal.

The result is a straightforward, few-frills retelling of the web of conversations that ensnared Dawkins and led to the charging of a number of his regular collaborators from inside college teams and apparel companies alike.