Director: Joe Pytka
Cast: Michael Jordan, Bugs Bunny*, Wayne Knight, Bill Murray
Have I Seen It Before?: As a child of the 1990s, I’m willing to acknowledge that it was probably my obligation to have watched the film at least a dozen times by now. In truth, it was the eventual admission that despite having seen pieces of it play on various VHS tapes throughout the years, I’ve never seen it all the way through.
Did I like it?: There’s a temptation to say that I just missed the time when this film might have worked.
But I don’t think that’s it. I’m willing to say objectively that the film just doesn’t work. It’s not even a movie, really, but a 30-second commercial stretched out into a runtime of 80 minutes that somehow feels both far-too-rushed and interminable.
But what is it even an ad for? Basketball? Sneakers, maybe? Warner Bros. cartoons? If so, there are far better ways to embrace the anarchic spirit of those cartoons. Might I suggest Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990)? There are several moments where I’m definitely getting the impression that I should have an increased awareness of the University of North Carolina, but there’s got to be a better way to increase admissions.
There are flashes that work, but almost none of them involve special effects, and nearly all of them feature Bill Murray. There’s even a moment where Jordan (Jordan, just to keep up the conventions that I’m writing about an actual movie) admonishes Murray for his basketball ambitions by telling him that he can’t play. Now, it might be a bit of stretch to say that Murray is the Michael Jordan of lead performances in a comedic film, but I’m going to stick by it. He probably should have given Jordan the same advice about how he can’t act. He merely has facial expressions while he far-too-easily accepts the cartoon world around him.
Maybe if I had any affection for the sport of basketball, I could get into this a bit more… But even then, I can’t imagine how this film worked for anyone in any context. Oh, also? I could use a lot less R. Kelly in my life. Couldn’t we all?
*Right out of the gate, I’m already a little annoyed with the credits for this movie. Bugs Bunny is credited, not Billy West, who voices Bugs. I mean, I guess for the concept (if you can use that term) for the film, that’s fine, but why aren’t the rest of the Looney Tunes gang given any props above the title. Lola Bunny (voiced by Kath Soucie) has plenty to do in the movie. And when the hell will Daffy Duck (voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) get any kind of due?