Comedy: The ghost of a college basketball player returns to help his brother and fellow teammates make it to the NCAA championship game.
PLOT:
Two basketball playing brothers, Antoine (KADEEM HARDISON) and Kenny Tyler (MARLON WAYANS) have finally made it to the big time. Playing for the University of Washington Huskies, they're on their way to the playoffs. Fate intervenes, however, when Antoine has a heart attack and dies, leaving Kenny to lead the team. When they fall into a slump, though, Antoine's ghost shows up to lead the team. Since no one but Kenny can see him, he's able to block shots and steal the ball away from opposing players without anyone knowing what's going on. This peaks the interest of female sports reporter R.C. St. John (MICHAEL MICHELE) who also becomes romantically interested in Kenny. As Coach Peterson (DAVID PAYMER) helps the team along, Kenny must deal with Antoine's rampant desire to win the NCAA championship game.
WILL KIDS WANT TO SEE IT?
If they're into basketball or are fans of any of the cast they will.
WHY THE MPAA RATED IT: PG-13
For brief language and some innuendos.
CAST AS ROLE MODELS:
MARLON WAYANS plays the kid brother who finally steps out of his brother's shadow to make it on his own.
KADEEM HARDISON plays the ghost who's determined to play in the games and make it to the playoffs. He does, however, get too aggressive as the plot moves along and displays his anger toward his teammates and by inadvertently injuring an opposing player.
This is a movie that can't decide if it wants to be comedy or a drama, and this conflict undermines its efforts. The drama never really works, as Kenny's grief doesn't feel completely heartfelt and at times is very contrived just to help move the story along. If he and his brother were really as tight as they're made out to be, then he wouldn't be able to continue playing after the death. The comedy is occasionally funny, with Wayans doing his best to make it look like an invisible ghost is talking to him or has him in a head lock, etc... But a little of that goes a long way and we're forced to endure many scenes of that. This film pales considerably when compared to "Field of Dreams" or "Angels in the Outfield," two other "spirited" sports movies. Sure, they're all different genres, but the Kevin Costner film is heartfelt -- you feel the loss of his father even after all of the intervening years -- and the sport of baseball is treated with great reverence. Here, basketball is just a series of games where nothing original happens, and the progression of the team to the playoffs is extremely predictable right down to the last shot in the championship game. Yes, it is a comedy, but it could have put some more true emotion into the plot to give the film more depth. The only thing that happens here is that Kenny finally learns the lesson of stepping out of his brother's shadow. There's lots of basketball footage and many cameos from famous college coaches and announcers, but most of it's uninspired and monotonous. This seems like another high concept idea that wasn't executed well and thus isn't a great movie. It's not the worst you'll ever see, though, and some audience members will probably enjoy this production. But we don't think it manages to overcome its faults and thus we give it a 4 out of 10.
OUR WORD TO PARENTS:
Other than for the language and some brief and relatively mild sexual comments, the film doesn't contain a great deal of material that most parents would find objectionable. There's a little bit of drinking and some bad attitudes here and there. Violence isn't too bad with most of it played for laughs, although Antoine does seriously hurt an opposing player in one scene (by smashing him into the backboard). Since your kids may want to see this film, you should examine the content before allowing them to do so.
People drink beer and cocktails in a bar and Kenny orders a pitcher of beer that ends up being spilled. Later, people are still drinking, including R.C.
Coach Peterson says that when Antoine signed to play for the Huskies, he broke out a bottle of ten-year-old Scotch.
Antoine has a heart attack during a game and falls to the floor in pain. He's taken from the court and then dies in an ambulance.
Kenny sits alone in the darkened locker room and hears voices saying, "I'm right behind you." The camera then moves in weird sweeping angles around Kenny. While it's not overly scary, younger kids may find it a little unsettling.
Coach Peterson says that when Antoine signed to play for the Huskies, he broke out a bottle of ten-year-old Scotch and "made a run at the wife" (ie. sexual activity).
Kenny and R.C. are sitting by a fountain when Antoine's ghost appears in it and refers to how cold the water is. Kenny, responding to his invisible brother, says, "I don't want to hear about your 'pricky' nipples." R.C. wonders why he's saying that to her, but he quickly changes the subject.
While Kenny is trying to impress R.C. on their date, Antoine tells him that he won't be "getting any ass" that night.
Antoine tells Kenny, "Better yet, lets go down to the cemetery and see if I can get laid."
Kenny stands at a urinal talking to his brother who, of course, can't be seen. Another man then walks out and hears Kenny say, "I love you...I can't play with you right now...You're making everything hard..." Once Kenny realizes that the man thinks he's talking to his penis, Kenny says, "The man thinks I'm talking to my piece."
In several scenes, the Huskies' mascot tries to make some elaborate basketball shots. One time he crashes into the basketball goal and another he flies up into the air only to land on his crotch on a "see saw" type apparatus.
Kenny, shocked to see Antoine (actually his ghost), throws two punches at his brother, one that just stretches his face and the other that passes through it.
Kenny and Antoine mockingly fight with each other, although Antoine does hold his brother in a head lock and later we see Kenny being thrashed back and forth on the court by the invisible Antoine.
Antoine runs down the sideline smacking all of the opposing players. They think their other teammates hit them and get into a big brawl, including one player who's seen slugging another in the face.
Antoine enters a painting and kicks a man into a lake.
Upset that his teammates have asked him not to play anymore, Antoine trashes their hotel room. He throws a chair against a wall, knocks items from the dresser and punches a hole in the wall.
Antoine smashes an opposing player into the backboard, seriously injuring him.
A cheerleader accidentally falls to the ground when another cheerleader who was supposed to do the catch is distracted by Kenny.
There's typical basketball contact violence, where players knock each other down and push and shove each other.
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