April Review: Space Jam (1996) (Patreon)

Come on and SLAM! Welcome to the APRIL FILM REVIEW!

Space Jam (1996) is many things, a weirdly heartfelt love letter to fathers and sons, structurally a looney toon, and of course prior to the upcoming "Air", about as much of a Michael Jordan biopic as anyone expected. Do all of these pieces always work together to create the perfect movie? No not even a little bit, but it's still a fun game to cheer along to.

If I could sum up my main issue with this movie in a single sentence, it would be "not enough basketball." 

"But Sophia," you say, "Bugs Bunny uses his ears to throw a ball into a net, surely this is sports?" And to that I would respond, sure, but only for 20 of 88 minutes. Despite the only impactful part of this film being the Looney Toons and Jordan mixing their respective b-ball styles to take the Monstars to court, Space Jam (1996) insists on the majority of the screen time being devoted to set up. Jordan's backstory, his brief stint in Baseball, his family, anything in the human surface world, are all introduced, but have very little bearing on anything when it comes down to the titular Space Jam. The toons and Monstars as well, get scene after scene of set up for the stakes of the game. When it comes time to shoot some hoops, all of that seems to matter little, compared to the immediate conflict we all knew was coming at the beginning of the film, team vs team, basketball style.

All of this is not to say there isn't stuff to like outside the basketball game. Personally, I adored the sections of the film devoted to five NBA stars getting to do little scenes and bits as they're tested to figure out where their talent went, and I'd never dream of denying Bill Murray's presence was funny, if random. It all just felt very listless, like the film knew it was just stalling for time before we got to the main action. Action that would fly by, despite being one of the few times the Looney Toons got to let loose and be, well, Looney.

Overall, Space Jam (1996) is exactly what you'd expect. Michael Jordon plays basketball with Bugs Bunny and Co. It's a little silly, a little slim, but overall a pretty inoffensive watch. Or as I've decided to put it, good movie, better song.

5/10 Players Required to Play in the Space Jam