The full article is available in our e-Edition. Hilarity ensues and tensions run high as the two butt heads every step of the way. Guess what? They win the game! Calvin is a superstar and is signed on for the rest of the season, and Tracy is assigned as his mentor, something he is not at all interested in doing. Lil Bow Wow plays an orphan who one day discovers a pair of old sneakers that were once worn by the legendary. Near the end of the game, while losing, other players convince the coach to put him in. Detailed plot synopsis reviews of Like Mike. Thinking this is a real chance to play, Calvin is elated, only to be devastated when he learns it’s just a publicity stunt. Calvin performs an impossible slam dunk and wows the crowd, earning him a one-day contract to play with the Knights. like Mike), Reynolds must step up his game or risk being humiliated by a 13-year-old kid. When Calvin turns out to be really good (some might say. During halftime, there’s a raffle to play with the Knights’ star player, Tracy Reynolds (Morris Chestnut, “Under Seige 2,” “Boyz N the Hood”). Why they didn’t use the Lakers or the Clippers - two real NBA teams based in LA - is beyond me, but regardless.Īfter a rough loss, Calvin approaches Coach Wagner (Robert Forster) and after impressing him with his b-ball knowledge, is offered free tickets to the next game. He uses the kids to make money by selling chocolate bars outside the Staples Center in LA before (fictional) Los Angeles Knights basketball games.
#Like mike movie movie#
He is in a different movie entirely and is dialed in to an 11. I have it on DVD (Like Mike Blu-Ray when).I OFTEN watched the music video on AOL for 'Basketball' by star of the film Lil Bow Wow (and, of course, featuring Fabolous, Jermaine Depree, and the criminally underutilized Fundisha). Bitterman, played manically by Crispin Glover (“Back to the Future”). Like Mike (2002) was a seminal film in the formative years that were my youth. This is essentially “Annie” without the singing and basketball instead. It is a fun movie and I enjoyed watching it, but there is a very dark subplot that I have many questions about.įirst of all, movies about orphans were a dime a dozen for a while. Having never seen it prior nor having no real context for it, I obviously did not enjoy it as much as my co-host, who also happens to be a huge basketball fan. The film he picked was 2002's “Like Mike,” starring rapper Lil’ Bow Wow as a young orphan named Calvin Cambridge who finds an old pair of (supposedly) Michael Jordan's Nikes and makes a wish to be able to play basketball “like Mike.” After lightning strikes him and the shoes (yes, really), he is imbued with the “powers” of NBA great Jordan, but all the while, only wishes someone would adopt him. Recently on my podcast, my co-host and I picked favorite movies from our childhoods to rewatch to see if they still hold up.