Das große Basketball-Kidnapping (1996)

Das große Basketball-Kidnapping: Directed by Tom DeCerchio. With Damon Wayans, Daniel Stern, Dan Aykroyd, Gail O’Grady. Two over-loyal Celtic fans kidnap their opponent’s star player in order to guarantee their team the championship.

“Sports fanaticism is rampant everywhere, as we see on TV riots at soccer games world wide as well as antics of fans at all the major sporting events in this country. It was very funny to see the diehard Boston Celtics fans, Daniel Stern and Dan Aykroyd, switch seats to bring some luck to the Celtics, get the other fans to leave their seats and stand in the aisle, kick a friend who came late out of the arena because he brought bad luck, etc. I suspect everyone does things like that, perhaps on a smaller scale, while rooting for a favorite team. I remember a ritual I had while rooting for the New York baseball Giants as a kid and Iu0026#39;m convinced I helped them win the 1954 pennant and World series. So the opening basketball sequence had me rolling in the aisles. But once they u0026quot;accidentallyu0026quot; kidnap the best Utah Jazz player, Damon Wayans, in an effort to help the Celtics win the championship, the comedy loses its steam. It somehow reminded me of the horrendous scandals involving skater Tanya Harding as well as that of Monica Seles who was actually stabbed by a fan wanting her to lose. Nothing was funny in the second half of the film. It took the wrong direction and hit a dead end.”