The Real MVP of the Original Space Jam

 

I've made a couple basketball-related posts this week to coincide with the release of “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” but I haven't written about the movie or the original.

In case we have to wait another 25 years for a third installment, I'd better go ahead and rectify that now. My blog is nothing if not in touch with the zeitgeist, as evidenced by my timely coverage of “Captain America: Man and Wolf.”

I enjoyed “A New Legacy,” even if I jokingly change the subtitle to “Ready Player Bron.” Part of my appreciation is how much my 6-year-old daughter enjoyed it and how excited she was to watch it. That's due in part to how much she likes the original because she knows how much I like it.

Although I developed Chicago Bulls fatigue as a young basketball fan (couldn't someone else win once in a while?), I was intrigued from the moment I heard about the delightfully ridiculous concept of Jordan teaming up with the Looney Tunes to play basketball against aliens. I was excited to see the other NBA cameos, especially since two of the players whose talents are hijacked by the aliens in question were Charlotte Hornets.

But the movie would have remained just a curiosity and an odd note in film and sports history to me if not for the true MVP: Bill Murray.

Murray is in the movie for maybe five minutes, but they are five hilarious minutes. The fact that he's essentially continuing his series of NBA commercials about trying to get into the league makes its success even more unlikely.

Murray first appears during a friendly game of golf with Jordan and Larry Bird, asking the hardcourt heroes if they believe he can make it in the NBA since star players are mysteriously losing their abilities. They do not.

“It's because I'm white, isn't it?” Murray pouts.

“No,” Jordan replies. “Larry's white. So what?”

“Larry's not white; Larry's clear.”

He has a couple more laugh-out-loud lines after Jordan is dragged into Looney Tune land, then doesn't show up (25-year-old spoiler alert) until the Tune Squad is down by one and only has four players able to take the court. Asked by Daffy Duck how he got there, Murray answers the producer's a friend of his and a Teamster drove him over.

If you're looking for solid logic in a movie where Michael Jordan and Bugs Bunny play basketball with aliens, good luck. But the way Murray casually tosses aside whatever internal structure had been established before joining in the game just adds to the hilarity.

Alas, my daughter doesn't find Murray's presence as amusing as I do. But we had fun with the movie.

We had fun with “Space Jam: A New Legacy” too, but it doesn't have the Murray factor to elevate it. The story hits all the notes of the original without being a carbon copy. There are some good cameos, including Lil Rel Howery providing color commentary and a terrific guest at halftime.

A forced Murray cameo likely wouldn't have been any better than going without him. It might have been worse. Still, if anyone could make it work, it's probably Bill Murray.