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Credits

Rated: PG; Genre: Comedy; With: Kevin Bacon and Charles Gitonga Maina
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By Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Ty Burr
Ty Burr is a writer at large for EW and is no relation to Raymond or Aaron

One odd little movie, The Air Up There sends a college basketball recruiter (Kevin Bacon) to the plains of Kenya, where he goes native with a vengeance. Too exotic (and light on the hoop action) for armchair jocks, the movie's also predictable — underneath the tribal face paint lies every come-from-behind sports cliche. The depiction of the locals is sympathetic but shallow, and who knows why the producers filled the soundtrack with pop music from South Africa, a country more than 1,500 miles from Kenya. (Guess they think it all sounds alike.) Still, Bacon's an engaging pro, Charles Gitonga Maina (as a 6-foot-8-inch tribal warrior) is a tranquil charmer, and you do get to travel to a place and a culture that Hollywood rarely bothers with. Too bad they made it look like Disneyland. C+


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Posted Jun 10, 1994
 

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