Like Mike

Like Mike
Directed by	John Schultz
Produced by	Barry Josephson Peter Heller
Screenplay by	Michael Elliot Jordan Moffet
Story by	Michael Elliot
Starring	Lil' Bow Wow Morris Chestnut Jonathan Lipnicki Robert Forster Crispin Glover Eugene Levy
Music by	Richard Gibbs
Cinematography	Shawn Maurer
Editing by	Peter Berger John Pace
Studio	NBA Entertainment Josephson Entertainment Heller Highwater Productions
Distributed by	20th Century Fox
Release date(s)	July 3, 2002 (2002-07-03)
Running time	99 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$30 million
Box office	$62,274,780

Like Mike is a 2002 film fantasy sports-comedy film, directed by John Schultz and starring Lil' Bow Wow, Morris Chestnut, Jonathan Lipnicki and Brenda Song. It was produced in association with NBA Entertainment and features cameo appearances by many NBA stars. A 14-year-old orphan becomes an NBA superstar after trying on a pair of sneakers with the faded initials "M.J." inside. The plot is largely similar to Slam Dunk Ernest.

Plot

Calvin Cambridge, Reg Stevens and Murph are teenage orphans who are best friends. At night, they sell chocolates for the greedy orphanage director, Stan Bittleman, (Crispin Glover) at each home game of the Los Angeles Knights (a fictional NBA franchise team loosely based on the Los Angeles Clippers).

One night after a game, Calvin meets the team's coach, who is impressed by Calvin's knowledge of basketball and honesty about the chocolates he sells, and offers to Calvin tickets for the next Knights game. The next day, Calvin obtains a pair of old sneakers (blue and white Nike Blazers) from a Salvation Army Thrift Store that had reportedly been used by a great basketball player, when he was a boy. The shoes have the initials MJ written on them, Calvin thinks they used to belong to Michael Jordan.

Calvin's new sneakers are taken by a bully called Ox, who throws them onto an overhead power line. Calvin tries to retrieve them the same night in a rainstorm, so as to get it when Ox is not around, and when retrieving the sneakers gets hit by a lightning bolt.

Next Day, Calvin and his friends go to the basketball game between the Knights and the Minnesota Timberwolves with the free tickets. The Knights are, at present, one of the worst teams in the league. After the second quarter ends, the team's best player, Tracy Reynolds, prepares for a half time contest, to play one-on-one with a randomly picked ticket from the audience. Calvin's ticket is picked to play. Before the contest begins, a man in the crowd notices that one of Calvin's shoe lace is untied and as, Calvin leans down to tie it, whispers to his sneakers - "Make me like Mike". As the contest begins, Calvin notices that he has NBA superstar talent; he wins the contest with a dunk after bouncing the ball off the backboard, leaving the crowd speechless and Calvin is signed to a one-day contract by the Knights. Calvin prepares for his first game with the Knights against the San Antonio Spurs, but is benched for the game. As the game plays, the Knights start losing badly and Coach Wagner decides to let Calvin play in the fourth quarter. However, Calvin remembers that he can't play without his sneakers and calls a time out to get them, by lying that he needs a bathroom break. He comes back out and leads a comeback against the Spurs which results in an unexpected win, and leads him getting a season contract with the Knights. Reynolds becomes his mentor through the NBA's mentoring program, as Calvin is a minor. Calvin brings teamwork to the struggling Knights and makes them one of the best teams in the league.

Calvin experiences luxury for the first time while on the road with the team. He gets to visit hotels and places he never imagined existed, and has Reynolds for roommate on the road. Calvin starts taking the headlines and becomes the talk, all around sports media and the NBA. Calvin also wins the Slam Dunk Contest, which makes Tracy gradually respect Calvin.

Meanwhile, back home, Bittleman signs a contract with the team, to cash in all of Calvin's money until he's eighteen, or adopted. When the latter is about to become true, Bittleman steals Calvin's shoes and bets US$100,000 against the Knights losing the next game.

After negotiating with Ox and his friends to tie selfish Bittleman to a chair, Calvin subdues the orphanage director and becomes friends with Ox. Ox helps Calvin retrieve his shoes out of Bittleman's safe and they head to the arena on electric scooters with Calvin's sneakers to get away from Bittleman. However, Bittleman escapes and manages to send several goons after Calvin in a failed attempt to steal the shoes. Calvin makes it to the arena with the shoes after the 3rd quarter ends with Vince Carter and the Toronto Raptors routing the Knights 80–59.

Calvin is reluctantly put into the game after Tracy convinces the Coach not to bench Calvin, as the team will not be in a position to play in the playoffs without him, and the Knights start to make a comeback. After a pile-on towards the end of the game, Calvin's shoes are ruined with the Knights down by one point. During the following timeout, Calvin tells the team that he will retire after this game, without revealing the reason the cause for his skills being destroyed. On the last play, Calvin is not as skillful as before without his shoes, and goes through a bit of struggle, but still manages to pump fake to get Vince Carter to jump and Calvin passes the ball to Tracy after going under Carter who is in mid-air and Tracy makes the game-winning shot at the buzzer, to clinch the Knights their first ever playoff berth.

After going back to his Orphanage, Calvin and Murph get adopted by Tracy and Reg by a different family but they still keep in touch. It is also revealed that Bittleman is missing because he doesn't have enough money to pay the bet and the Orphanage is now sponsored by the Knights.

Cast

• Lil' Bow Wow - Calvin Cambridge
• Morris Chestnut as Tracy Reynolds
• Jonathan Lipnicki - Murph
• Brenda Song as Reg Stevens
• Jesse Plemons as Ox
• Robert Forster as Coach Wagner
• Julius Ritter as Marlon
• Crispin Glover as Stan Bittleman
• Anne Meara as Sister Theresa
• Eugene Levy as Frank Bernard
• Fred Armisen as New Age Dad
• Julie Brown as New Age Mom
• Vanessa Williams as Pharmacist
• Jimmy Kimmel as Client in Commercial (uncredited)
• John Marshall Jones as NBA Player (uncredited)

NBA stars

• Vince Carter
• Michael Finley
• Steve Francis
• Allen Iverson (credited as "Allen E. Iverson")
• Jason Kidd
• Dirk Nowitzki
• Desmond Mason
• Tracy McGrady
• Alonzo Mourning
• Steve Nash
• Gary Payton
• Ahmad Rashad (broadcaster)
• Jason Richardson
• Michael Doleac
• Tim Duncan
• David Robinson (credited as "David M. Robinson")
• Reggie Theus (broadcaster)
• Gerald Wallace
• Rasheed Wallace
• Chris Webber
• Pat Croce (NBA Owner)
• Tom Tolbert
• John Thompson (uncredited)
• Peter Cornell (uncredited)

Soundtrack

Main article: Like Mike (soundtrack)

A soundtrack containing hip hop and R&B music was released on July 2, 2002 by So So Def Recordings and Sony Music Soundtrax. It peaked at 18 on the Billboard 200 and 10 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.

Sequel

A sequel, titled Like Mike 2: Streetball, was released direct to DVD in 2006. The original characters do not make an appearance, but keeps a similar plot.

Box office performance

The film opened at #5 with a 3-day gross of $12,179,420 from 2,410 theaters for an average of $5,054 per venue, and a $19,018,444 gross since its Wednesday launch. It closed on November 19, 2002 with a final domestic gross of $51,432,760. The film did not do nearly as well overseas making $10,842,020, but with a total worldwide gross of $62,274,780, it was still a financial success, as the film cost only $30 million to make.

External links

• Like Mike at the Internet Movie Database
• Like Mike at AllRovi