On March 24, 2017, a movie with no commercials was released in theaters all over the world. The film is called “Slamma Jamma” and it features Michael Irvin and Jose Canseco, however they both play smaller roles. Michael Irvin plays Terrel who is a very cruel agent who is trying to crush people’s dreams and Jose Canseco plays himself as he is one of the guest judges in the dunk competition. The film’s main character is Michael Diggs who is played by Chris Staples.
The film is a sports based fiction film and it is about a former USC trojan basketball standout that goes by the name of Michael Diggs. Through Michael’s successive college career, he averaged 27 points a game and he could have been the first pick in the NBA draft, however one night he hung out with the wrong crowd. Michael Diggs was accused of murder and received a 6 year jail sentence.
After Michael gets released from prison, he then finds out that his ex-girlfriend is dating his best friend, that his former agent is now working for his best friend, and unlike most people who apply for a job, Michael now has to start looking for a job under the name of a convict.
When Michael first arrives back home, he immediately starts looking for a job to support his mother and his brother. However when he gets fired from his first job, things become much more difficult as he finds out that his mom has is in debt of 25,000 dollar hospital bill, and he is willing to do anything to pay it off. The only thing that relieves Michael of his stress is playing basketball.
Every now and then Michael plays a pick-up game and he starts to gain the reputatuion of an amazing dunker of the basketball. After a few weeks, Michael’s friends encourage him to participate in the National Dunk contest which includes a grand prize of one million dollars for the champion. In the past, Michael Diggs has lost all faith and this is finally time to regain that faith his life and to win the money for his family.
“This movie is just the basis for inspiration in this country, there will be many more to come”, Michael Irvin said.
The idea and the plot of the actual movie itself was amazing and very inspirational, however the actual production and execution of the scenes was really poor. For example, when there are scenes in the movie flashing back to Michael Diggs’s past, Michael wears a fake afro wig and it is very noticeable. I think if this movie started out as a book, when it gets to the point where it gets enough attention and when more people start to like it, then the book could afford the actual “visual” for the movie.
Slamma Jamma was basically a great faith-based message and story, but it didn’t really the serve the purpose of movie and that is putting words into action.