A Popcorn Flick...nothing more

Rating: 7/10 (13 July 2003)

I first saw this film upon release back seven years ago. It was good for a popcorn flick but not if you were looking for something with a little more psychological bite (like Fargo, released in the same year). Here are my reasons (spoilers herein): (1) I love the Looney Tunes and I will always be a fan of them no matter how inept and lame the next movie they make is. (2) Michael Jordan's performance is OK for a first attempt. (3) The special effects are well-done. (4) The entire sequence where the players try to figure out how they lost their talent almost had me on the floor laughing. (5) Charles Barkley uttered the line "I'll never go out with Madonna again" while praying to God is the single best adult-oriented line in the movie. (6) They couldn't resist taking a shot at Disney as well. (7) The best performance in the movie goes to Bill Murray. He is relentless when he is on screen and it pays off. Murray's cameo is one of his better roles pre-Rushmore and one of the best cameos of all time. Seven reasons give a score of seven.
As for the downsides: (1) Not much was given to plot development but there wasn't much to begin with in the first place. (2) Creepiest performance goes to Wayne Knight as Stan. He was like Wormtail in the Harry Potter series. (3) Those little aliens are really annoying and whiny. I prefer the villains to have a bit of a backbone even if they are puny.
Overall, "Space Jam" is just another popcorn flick that is perfect to kill a weekend afternoon with. Michael Jordan should stick to his day job which isn't ironically playing basketball anymore. As for mixing cartoon characters and real-life characters into movies, thankfully these films are few and far between. I suggest other titles like "Rushmore" and "Fargo" among others and this should be picked out as a last resort.
Here ends my rant!