Do you care enough about a sneaker-endorsement deal from nearly 40 years ago to watch a movie about it? “Air” and its director, Ben Affleck , think that you might, if the sneaker is Nike and the endorser is Michael Jordan . And wouldn’t it be great if people returned to the multiplexes for a reality-grounded story that features no superpowers unless you count Mr. Jordan’s celebrated ability to fly to the bucket? Instead of the usual green-screen overload, Mr. Affleck offers lots of what used to be known as star power, before it became clear that actors no longer drive sales. Welcome to a strange attempt at an underdog tale about a publicly traded corporation with sales in the hundreds of millions and a boss who drives a high-end Porsche.

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