|
All-Reviews.com Movie/Video Review
Like Mike
|
  out of 4
Review by Susan Granger
2 stars out of 4
|
There's not much that's original in this Cinderella basketball story but that
doesn't seem to diminish its juvenile appeal. Hip hop rapper Lil Bow Wow is
Calvin Cambridge, a 4' 8" tall, hoops-loving 14 year-old orphan whose teacher,
Sister Theresa (Anne Meara), gives him a pair of old Nikes inscribed on the
tongue with the faded initials M.J.. Could this Salvation Army donation really
have belonged to Michael Jordan? Suddenly, Calvin possesses the skills of an NBA
player and miraculously becomes the star of a fictional team called the Los
Angeles Knights. His specialty is a 30-foot jump and the conversion of 3-point
shots. Morris Chestnut plays Tracey Reynolds, Calvin's incredulous on-the-road
roommate and rival who, predictably, becomes his buddy and father substitute. Of
course, there's a bizarre bad guy - that's Crispin Glover ("Charlie's Angels"),
head of the Chesterfield Group Home, who rips off Calvin's earnings and burns
the only snapshot Calvin's buddy, Jonathan Lipnicki ("Jerry Maguire," "Stuart
Little"), has of his late mother. NBA players Allen Iverson, Chris Webber and
Jason Kidd show up in cameos as Robert Forster ("Jackie Brown") and Eugene Levy
("Best in Show") play the Knights' coach and general manager, respectively. So
where's the Michael Jordan cameo that would have been the real slam dunk? Not
there. Too bad. And writers Michael Elliot & Jordan Moffet and director John
Schultz go for the feel-good ending with unabashed schmaltz. "Take Ya Home" from
the soundtrack is already big on MTV but, perhaps, with this vehicle, Shad
'Gregory' Moss can shed the Lil Bow Wow moniker and achieve a coming-of-age
screen persona. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Like Mike" is a
kid-friendly 5. And if you enjoy this, rent "Rookie of the Year" (1993).
Copyright © 2002 Susan Granger
| |
|
|
Buy movie posters!
|
