Thunderstruck

Thunderstruck is yet another short guy's hoop dreams fairytale. Brian Newall (Taylor Gray) is a huge Kevin Durant fan much like me, so I was pleased with how the story focused on this amazing NBA player. I was totally pulling for the Thunder in the NBA playoffs, but alas it wasn't their time. Initially I figured that this was a Space Jam like film for this generation of young hoopsters to see a current fan favorite in a life situation other than simply on the court or I thought it might be a Like Mike kind of film. Unfortunately, it didn't have the charisma or heart of either of those two films. The funniest scenes are when Alan (Brandon T. Jackson) tries to fix "the situation" with all nature of high fives and fist pumps. But it's sad when you resort to ball on balls physical comedy for laughs. Again, I am a Kevin Durant fan and consider him one of the most talented ballers in the game today, but he and Candace Parker Williams have some serious work to do if they want to build an acting resume. It helped that Brandon T. Jackson and James Belushi (Coach Amross) are good actors but they did not make enough of a difference to balance out the poor acting. The only common factor with this film and Space Jam was Sir Charles Barkley in his current role as a TNT basketball commentator. He was as funny in this film as ever. I laughed audibly when he remarked that Shaq had been working with Kevin on his free throws. If you want to make a Space Jam or Like Mike type of movie it has to have magic, even though there was some inexplicable magic in this film it wasn't that game winning shot kind that leaves your exhilarated and satisfied with the final triumph. I did realize though that you have to have some basketball talent to make it appear that you have no basketball talent. If it were the beginning of summer and you wanted to get the kids out of the house then send them to this film for an hour and a half of peace, but since it isn't you are better off saving your dollars. This film was like a drawn out commercial for the NBA, Nike and Kevin Durant, unfortunately it was less memorable than his data plan commercial. You can see basketball on TV, you can see the TNT announcers on TV and you should really wait until this film comes to TV to see it. I give it a red light.

It's like a mix of "Like Mike" and "Space Jam" but still not bad. It was Okay. That's about it. It was cool seeing Kevin Durant in a movie as well. Crazy how Durant wasn't in Space Jam or Like Mike.

Quite silly, but there are days that we just need it, silly films to de-stress and rest, nothing thinking, just banalities, tasty...

This movie is great. Overall though this movie was well done and that Thunder fans or just basketball fans in general should watch.

Brian Newall is a hopelessly uncoordinated high school kid. He's the joke at his school and the basketball team towel boy. He is ridiculed in front of his crush, new girl Isabel. His hero is Oklahoma City Thunder Kevin Durant. He goes to a game with his father and gets into the shot contest. He fails miserably. When Durant gives him a ball, all of his skills get passed along with it. Brain becomes a great player while Durant can't hit the side of the barn. Coach Amross (Jim Belushi) makes Brian his star player. Durant's agent Alan (Brandon T. Jackson) has a crazy idea of what actually happened.

The kid is a weak actor. He looks fine as a baller which might be the prerequisite for this role. It would be better to get a more fun actor. Durant is a good actor for a basketball player. At least, the NBA cooperated. It's often cheesy to have fake pro teams. The TNT crew is also involved. This could work as a fun Freaky Friday family film but the kid is no rising star. The most fun happens when Durant and the kid try to recreate the freaky switch. Otherwise, it lacks the humor and fun.