SLAM DUNK ERNEST (1994) *1/2 No, this isn't when a huge basketball player soars high above the rim and slams Ernest down through it, though many would enjoy that even more. Instead good Jim Varney is visited by the Archangel of Basketball, Kareem-Abdul Jabbar, and gifted with a pair of magic powder blue tennis shoes. Which allow him to jump very high, run very fast, etc. No more prepared for superstardom than most who achieve it, Ernest squanders his opportunity until the formula, and yes there apparently does exist a formula for chaos short of entropy, calls for him to turn good. Basketball ensemble gives credence to the claims that Hollywood is chock full o' good black male actors whose talents are squandered in stereotypical roles of gangsters, junkies and jocks. Kareem is good, not as good as the kung fu flick he was in, but best of all is that superstar who has not only made good, but has done good to the extent that he's transcended sport to attain the deserved status of social icon. Varney may have had the will to do so, but here he settles for some fairly funny bits in a film that is part morality tale, part myth, part playground legend, part fable and part entertaining. Basketball realism? The rims look about two feet too low and the "winning shot" would have been a dead ball when it hit the announcer in the head.
back to Brilliant Observations on 1776 Films home
go back home, or send me email
no more reviews! I want to buy your novel!