The American Dream: How Two Guys from France Faked Their Way Into the NBA

Two men with no business being in a room with basketball executives somehow ended up brokering multi-million-dollar NBA deals. That's the actual story. Not a fictional premise — the film The American Dream (2026) is directly inspired by the real careers of French agents Bouna Ndiaye and Jérémy Medjana, which makes the comedy land harder because you know the absurdity is documented.

Release date: February 18, 2026 (France)
Runtime: 122 minutes
Rating: 7.4/10 (IMDb)
Stars: Jean-Pascal Zadi, Raphaël Quenard
Where to watch: Disney+, Prime Video (rights acquired pre-theatrical)

The Setup: Two Guys, Zero Credentials, Infinite Audacity

Jérémy works the counter at a video store in Amiens. Bouna mops floors at Orly airport in Paris. Neither speaks English well enough to order coffee. Neither has money, connections, or anything resembling a path into professional sports management. And yet — through sheer determination, improvisation, and a stubborn refusal to accept that certain rooms weren't built for people like them — they end up pitching NBA teams and closing deals that are worth millions.

The film doesn't waste time on setup. You understand within the first ten minutes that these men are frauds (the non-malicious kind) who are learning the job while they're doing it. What matters is that they believe in themselves anyway — and somehow, inexplicably, it works.

Why the Performances Actually Matter

Jean-Pascal Zadi and Raphaël Quenard aren't just playing two guys trying to hustle their way up. They're playing two guys who are actively, visibly uncomfortable — and they make that discomfort funny without turning it into a punchline. Zadi (who co-directed and starred in the acclaimed Tout simplement noir) brings a warmth to Bouna that keeps the character from ever tipping into caricature. Quenard, one of the most in-demand young French actors right now, plays Jérémy with an almost manic sincerity that's genuinely uncomfortable to watch — in the best way.

There's a sequence early in the second act where they're pitching a client they've never actually met, and the timing between them feels genuinely spontaneous. The kind of rhythm you don't get from a script alone. What strikes me about this is how deliberately the film resists the underdog-sports-movie template — no training montage, no climactic game, no slow-clap moment. The arena here is a conference room. A phone call. A handshake deal made while pretending you know exactly what you're doing.

The thing nobody mentions about this kind of comedy is how much craft goes into making improvised-feeling scenes actually land on screen. Both actors understand that the joke only works if the audience is rooting for them anyway. They pull it off.

Behind the Scenes: How This Film Got Made

Anthony Marciano wrote and directed The American Dream, with production handled by Quad Films alongside France 2 Cinéma. Gaumont distributed it in France and is handling international sales — a significant signal that this wasn't just a domestic French project. According to Cineuropa, the film had already secured pre-buys from France Télévisions, Disney+, and Prime Video before it hit cinemas, which suggests real confidence in its commercial reach.

Hard to say whether Marciano had direct access to the real agents during production, but the specificity matters here. The Amiens video store. The Orly cleaning shifts. Those details suggest more than surface-level research. It's the difference between "inspired by true events" and "actually grounded in someone's real life."

The film premiered in French theaters on February 18, 2026. As of now, neither Rotten Tomatoes nor Metacritic has aggregated critic scores — it's still early for international critical documentation — and box-office figures outside France haven't been widely reported.

Is It Actually Good? (And Who Should Watch It?)

Here's the honest take: The American Dream works if you're interested in character-driven comedy over plot. One early viewer on Letterboxd noted that it feels immersive for NBA fans but slightly lacks dramatic punch in its final stretch — and that's a fair read. The movie is more interested in the hustle than the arrival, which means the third act can feel a little breathless. But that's kind of the point.

If you liked Moneyball for its focus on the business side of sports rather than the sport itself, you'll get something here. If you watched Boiler Room and thought "yes, but with basketball agents," this is your film. You don't need to care about the NBA to enjoy watching two people refuse to accept the limits placed on them.

Movie OTT covers films like this specifically because they tend to fall through the cracks — too French for mainstream American coverage, too NBA-adjacent for pure arthouse audiences. The platform tracks where it's streaming across different regions, which matters here since licensing rights for a French-language comedy with professional basketball elements can vary significantly by territory.

Where to Actually Watch It

The film is currently available on major OTT services. Check the where-to-watch widget at the top of this page for the most current breakdown by region, since streaming availability shifts faster than anyone can keep up with on paper. We know from pre-theatrical reporting that France Télévisions, Disney+, and Prime Video all acquired rights before the theatrical run, so the streaming window should be reasonably broad once it opens.

If you're checking this a few months after the February 2026 release, there's a solid chance it's already landed on one of the platforms you already subscribe to. MovieOTT's tracker updates in real time, so you're not hunting blind — just check what's available in your region this week.

Common Questions

Should I watch this if I don't care about basketball?
Yes. The sport is almost incidental. It's a film about ambition, about people from nowhere trying to prove they belong somewhere. Basketball is just the backdrop.

Who actually stars in this?
Jean-Pascal Zadi plays Bouna, and Raphaël Quenard plays Jérémy. Both are prominent in contemporary French cinema — Zadi's known for his work in Tout simplement noir, while Quenard has become one of the most in-demand young actors in France over the past few years.

Is it based on a true story?
Directly inspired by, yes. The film draws from the actual careers of French agents Bouna Ndiaye and Jérémy Medjana — two people who genuinely did go from low-wage jobs to brokering professional basketball contracts in the US.

How long is it?
122 minutes. Just over two hours. Tight pacing, not a lot of wasted time.

Where can I watch it right now?
Disney+ and Prime Video both acquired streaming rights. Check the where-to-watch widget for your region, or use Movie OTT's availability tracker to see what's live on your platforms this week.

The Bottom Line

The American Dream earns its 7.4 IMDb rating by doing something genuinely difficult: making a comedy about ambition that doesn't feel cynical or saccharine. Watch it the moment it hits your platform of choice — especially if you've gotten tired of sports movies that are actually about sports. This one's about the hustle. About two guys who shouldn't have made it, somehow making it anyway. And the fact that it actually happened makes all the difference.