But before he disappears out the door, he pauses, turns back, and says, 'Hey kid.

After a brief silly conversation, he turns and leaves. Picture this scene: Michael Jordan strides into the LA Knight's locker room and meets a star-struck Calvin. Just some other guy who couldn't be fucked to show up! Vince Carter, Michael Finley, Steve Francis, Allen Iverson, Jason Kidd, Desmond Mason, Alonzo Mourning, Tracy McGrady, Steve Nash, Dirk Nowitzki, Gary Payton, Jason Richardson, David Robinson, Gerald Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, and Chris Webber gave their time and effort and probably a nice afternoon to be in the movie, and the movie wasn't even about a child that gained their abilities. They got SO MANY NBA players to be in the movie. And that is that Michael Jordan, the person whose shoes possessed this incredible power and ability in the film, the person whose talent is being praised simply by this film's existence, is nowhere to be found in the film. I just really like that guy.īut something really gets my goat every time I watch this film. Eugene Levy hot off American Pie 2! Pre-Disney Channel Brenda Song! Unfunny cameo appearances by Jimmy Kimmel and Fred Armisen. It's got great comedic performances from Lil' Bow Wow as Calvin Cambridge and Morris Chestnut as Tracy Reynolds. It's got everything you need in a early 2000s family film: an orphanage run by a real piece of shit, a redheaded bully, a lightning strike used as a justification for why magic stuff is happening, and boy wonder himself Jonathan Lipnicki. He is signed to the NBA by the struggling LA Knights (this film makes no reference to the Los Angeles Clippers, whom I assume are non-canonical in the Like Mike Cinematic Universe), and hijinks and life lessons ensue. It's the story of an orphan boy named Calvin Cambridge (Lil' Bow Wow) who gains incredible athletic abilities when he wears a pair of shoes that used to be Michael Jordan's. First time in a while.įor those who haven't seen.

I've probably watched this movie twenty times. 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). I have it on DVD ( Like Mike Blu-Ray when?!). Like Mike (2002) was a seminal film in the formative years that were my youth.

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