Un joueur à la hauteur

Kenya -1990s. St Joe's basketball team is famous but runs into a double crisis. For one, the acclaimed coach is going to retire and must name his successor. Moreover, the team is in dire need of a hoop star. Jimmy Dolan, ex-player and deputy coach, has therefore no choice but to find the star: his career is at stake. On a short video of a mission in Winabi (Kenya), he sees the star he needs. How to get there, to identify the player and to convince him to go back to the USA with him will however be quite a challenge! The spectator should not expect anything remotely intellectual or an even slightly probable description of Africa. But Kevin Bacon is good and the movie hilarious at times. A very entertaining, light movie, which beyond the classical story of friendship between two young men of different cultures (for once not too patronizing), shows quite interesting scenes of beautiful basketball and demonstrates a bit the incredible cult Americans make of sports in the environment of what is supposed to be tertiary education.

As someone who's never really been into sports, "The Air Up There" hardly seems like the sort of movie that I would like, but I did. When basketball talent scout Jimmy Dolan (Kevin Bacon) goes to Kenya to recruit a new player, he ends up finding Saleh, a chief's son whose skills exceed what anyone could have imagined. But before he moves to the states, there are some things that both sides are going to have to deal with.

This movie is interesting mainly for two reasons: it's good to see a sports movie that's not all about machismo, and a movie that looks at Kenyan culture (not one that we usually get to see). The movie isn't really any kind of masterpiece, but it never pretends to be one. There are some scenes that look like they were thrown in for comic relief (namely the goat milk). Pretty interesting.

Paul Michael Glasser's "The Air up There" is a fun film to watch, knowing full well what to expect. It doesn't break new barriers, or brings anything new to this type of film, but it is a totally harmless time in front of the television. Not having seen it in its commercial run, we had a chance to enjoy it the other night when it turned up on cable.

The best thing, as usual, going for this film is Kevin Bacon. Mr. Bacon makes anything he plays in an enjoyable experience. No matter what he does, he is totally believable, as is the case with his role as this coach, Jimmy Dolan, who will go to any extreme in order to get a good basket ball player for his team at Saint Joseph's.

His African journey gives Jimmy Dolan a first eye view of the poverty and hardship the young men in the remote village have to endure. He realizes the potential, especially in Saleh, the young man he wants to bring back to America.

Both Mr. Bacon and Charles Gitonga Maina, who plays Saleh, have an easy time together bonding in a hostile environment. Their inter action makes the film enjoyable. Also, the mostly unknown supporting cast compliment the movie.

Granted, this is a film to watch only for entertainment and to enjoy Kevin Bacon at his most charming self.

Kevin Bacon stars in "The Air Up There," a family "comedy" that is nothing more than a few familiar faces and half-hearted laughs. It's another feel-good underdog story of which is not particularly memorable.

Kudos to Bacon for turning a pretty routine script into a watchable, even amusing movie with some OK moments and likable characters. Not as good as "Cool Runnings," but still worth catching if it's on Sunday afternoon or something.

3/5

Not great, but good.

What makes this movie above all is the delightful acting of the Africans, especially Mr. Charles Gitongo Maina. I read that he went on actually to play basketball at a US college, but his acting in this film was what made it believable. Kevin Bacon was fun to watch playing at a typecast basketball coach, although his physical presence belied the role. Without the physical presence of Maina, this film would have fallen apart, but his warmth and verisimilitude as an teenager torn between sworn duty and aspiration made this viewer a believer. Suspension of disbelief is a basic prerequisite to the enjoyment of this kind of moral tale, and Charles Gitonga Maina made it seem real. The film uses cliché throughout, but it is the acting of all the cast of characters which brings this small film alive. It is a film of bits and pieces but well acted bits make them endearing. It is not a great work of art, but it is filled with a genuineness which transcends itself, including some truly beautiful scenes and scenery and music. The style, grace and dignity of the African actors make the whole film a delight to watch. Speaking of its bits and pieces, the one truly discordant note in the whole story was the misuse of the quotes from Quran which really had no point or place or meaning in the story. It just perplexed me. It sticks out with a pointlessness in an otherwise heart warming story. The "Bismillah" was beautiful but out of another time and culture and milieu, and still leaves me wondering (?)