Slam Dunk Ernest (dir. John R. Cherry III, 1995)
Slam Dunk Ernest is, I think, an attempt to make Ernest (Jim Varney) hip. It feels like a relic of ’90s fashions and filmmaking trends more than any other film in the series. The cast is all hip-talking black guys who play basketball, and they are different from the broad archetypes we’re used to seeing in these movies. There’s also a weird racial angle to the film: the black character are constantly commenting on how uncool Ernest is because of his race. Indeed, one of the black characters says to Ernest at one point and says “We don’t expect that kind of [good] behavior from your people.” “Your people?” Like white people? Was that racism?
And despite the magical conceits in this film, it’s the same story as the last one. Ernest has a dream of being a basketball star, but his teammates – members of his janitorial company, led by Russel (Cylk Cozart) – reject him because of his clumsiness. When Ernest messes up a local basketball game from the sidelines, he is approached by The Archangel of Basketball (ex-Laker Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and given a magical pair of sneakers that make him a better player. Yes, just like in 2002’s Like Mike. Yes, just like in 1963’s Son of Flubber.
The sneakers make Ernest a better player, but the new talents go to his head, and he soon becomes an arrogant jerk again. To be fair, this time he is lured to arrogance by a chubby demonic exec of some kind named Dr. Zamiel Moloch (Jay Brazeau). In case you couldn’t tell by the name, Zamiel Moloch is a demon in disguise. Russel gives Ernest lectures on teamwork, but Ernest can pretty much win games by himself – his super speed and minute-long hangtimes allow him to do pretty much anything.
The shoes, by the way, chat and chitter and force Ernest to walk to places he doesn’t want to go. They kick people in the butt, tee hee. They sound a lot like that Pink Floyd track “Several Species of Small Furry Animals Gathered Together in a Cave Grooving with a Pict.”
This film is more tightly plotted and better written and directed than the last, and it climaxes in the always-satisfying Big Game (the local team gets to face off against real-life NBS team the Charlotte Hornets) but I still don’t like seeing Ernest lured into bad things or behaving like a jerk. It seems to be Ernest should be immune to temptation, and is too clueless to want anything beyond his modest means.
In a parallel story, a young boy, Barry’s nephew, is tempted to shoplift a pair of his own sneakers. Zamiel tempts him. Eventually Ernest takes off the sneakers, and manages to score a winning basket in his own clumsy way. Hooray.
Slam Dunk Ernest is rote and usual. It’s not the worst film in the series, but the comedy doesn’t really strike; nothing here to make me giggle. The last two films pick up a little bit. But just a little.
