`The Air Up There' Is Thin, But Delightfully Breezy

Movie review

XX 1/2 "The Air Up There," with Kevin Bacon, Charles Gitonga Maina, Yolanda Vasquez, Winston Ntshona, Mabutho "Kid" Sithole. Directed by Paul M. Glaser, from a screenplay by Max Apple. Alderwood, Broadway Market, Everett 9, Gateway, Metro, Oak Tree, Parkway Plaza, Totem Lake. "PG" - Parental guidance suggested because of mild profanity, mature humor. -------------------------------------------------------------------

When you consider the increasing number of Africans playing basketball in the NBA, the premise of "The Air Up There" is not as far-fetched as it first seems. On the surface it's got the best of both worlds: a crowd-pleasing mix of high-concept comedy and enough credibility to make it work as agreeably convincing entertainment.

Unfortunately, this is also just another mouthful of cotton candy from the Hollywood Pictures division of the Disney movie mill, spun out sweetly with all the substance of a nimbus cloud. The word "wispy" comes to mind.

Then again, there are plenty of people who like their movies wispy, and this goofball comedy could easily turn into a modest hit for Air Jordan fans and slam-dunk connoisseurs. The setup involves Jimmy Dolan (Kevin Bacon), a former basketball hotshot and assistant coach of a fictional college hoop squad who is faced with a challenge when the head coach announces his retirement. If Dolan is going to inherit the top job, he must prove his ability to recruit a new power forward with heavyweight big-league potential.

Against orders, Dolan heads to Africa after spotting a promising giant playing basketball in a charity travelogue video.

Locating the remote Kenyan Winabi tribe, he finds Saleh (Charles Gitonga Maina), the heir to his tribal leadership who just happens to soar with serious hang time.

But Saleh's not impressed with Dolan's material enticements, and the tables turn when a rival tribe threatens to usurp Winabi land, proposing to solve the dispute with a game of basketball - including Dolan as a defending player and honorary recruit to the Winabi team.

This is one of those movies that broadcasts its entire story in the first 10 minutes, leaving you to sit back and let it unfold with few, if any, surprises. Kinda fun if you're into watching paint dry, and when the movie detours to follow Bacon through the ordeal of an initiation ritual, the whole thing takes on the kind of laughable silliness that has prevailed throughout Bacon's on-and-off career.

But "The Air Up There" is also blessed with the kind of breezy tone that never takes itself too seriously, and yet manages to maintain a kind of sunny authenticity.

Filmed in Kenya and South Africa, and making joyous use of Kenyan Samburu tribesmen as extras, the movie makes it easy to see how tribal traditions can intermingle with the "global village" of mass media to produce natives who are eager to get into some Reeboks and fly to the net.

And newcomer Maina - a 6-foot, 10-inch slam dunk champ from Kenya's Nairobi High School - proves to be the movie's shining star, a genuine charmer with natural appeal.

Director Paul M. Glaser (yep, Starsky from "Starsky and Hutch") handles it all with an eye and ear for the easy laughs, and trivializes the presence of Catholic missionaries while only skimming the dramatic potential of the story. But that's only consistent with the tiresome Disney formula: solid commercial ideas, adequate amusement for popular appeal and nagging indications of a better movie struggling in vain to break free from its mass-marketing chains.