Kevin Bacon totally dominates this film. In fact, he's the only "name" actor in it. You won't recognize anybody else in here.The story is lightweight entertainment with the most notable aspect being the African music, which is very good and a small tour of Kenya, which is interesting, both with beauty and poverty.Bacon plays as basketball assistant coach, an ex-point guard, who goes to Africa to recruit this great player "Saleh" (Charles Gitangra Marina) for his team back in the States. The adventures of the trip pretty much are the story.One negative: another irreverent slam to get a few cheap laughs at the Catholic church. A nun in here uses profanity and gives Bacon a big kiss on the lips. It's one more example of trying to make clerical people appear worldly like the rest of us.

College coaches are known for going to great lengths to woo their recruits. They meet the family, the athlete, and try to present themselves as being just like them, with similar views and values. They kiss up to the parents while singing the praises of the fine institution which pays them. In Jimmy Dolan's (Kevin Bacon) case, his limits are tested when he finds a star player, Saleh (Charles Gitonga Maina) in a documentary video of an African school sponsored by an American. Once he sees Saleh, it's off to Kenya.In Kenya, Dolan meets with the predictable culture shock and skepticism/hostility from the locals, who wonder why a white guy from America would travel all the way to their land. He "befriends" the local nun/missionary, Sister Susan (Yolanda Vasquez), who advises him of the futility of trying to recruit the firstborn son of the tribe leader, who is duty-bound to his people. Enter an evil mining-company owner from a neighboring tribe who is trying to steal the Winabe tribe's lane, however, and the next thing we know, Dolan has joined the Winabe tribe (a swipe at American coaches who no doubt have bonded with their recruits in similar ways), and is their player-coach for the big game, a game where the Winabe land and Saleh's promise to play at St. Joe's if they win are on the line.Bacon captures Dolan's essence very well, as an unsympathetic character placed into a very sympathetic situation. The movie is his coming-of-age tale, as we watch him mature from self-centered assistant coach to full-fledged mentor.

Kevin Bacon stars in "The Air Up There," a family "comedy" that is nothing more than a few familiar faces and half-hearted laughs. It's another feel-good underdog story of which is not particularly memorable.Kudos to Bacon for turning a pretty routine script into a watchable, even amusing movie with some OK moments and likable characters. Not as good as "Cool Runnings," but still worth catching if it's on Sunday afternoon or something.3/5Not great, but good.

When college basketball coach Jimmy Dolan loses the hottest new recruit by beating him in a game of one on one and damaging his pride he loses his job and looks for a way to get back. He sees a brilliant African player on a home movie and travels to Kenya to recruit him. However Saleh is the Chief's son and has his own problems as a mining company is trying to get control of the tribe's land.Bacon is not really a lead actor but someone who can give a good performance in co-lead or support. Here he has a film to carry on his own and struggles with it. Mainly it's due to the formulaic nature of the plot – lets be honest, even from the plot outline above I bet you could guess how's it going to end. However that doesn't mean it's not enjoyable – just not very good. It has plenty of nice laughs and the basketball action is fun and will directed if not realistic.Despite the formula the cast mainly do quite well, but really it never manages to get above the sort of formulaic sports comedy that we see so often. However it is entertaining and I did enjoy just switching off my brain and letting it go in one ear and out the other.Instantly forgettable and very by the numbers but some good laughs, good locations and good basketball action make it an entertaining enough film to just veg out in front of. Not great but passable.