If you’re wondering whether or not you’re a millennial, simply ask yourself this question: Is Space Jam a good movie? If you answered yes, congratulations, you’re a millennial. If you answered no, you’re, well, pretty much anything else.
When it launched in 1996, anyone over the age of 12 could see Space Jam for the capitalist perversion of the Looney Tunes franchise it was, the filmic equivalent of tees depicting “hip-hop” Bugs in backwards jeans. Still, the movie seared itself into unblemished brains with a Taz-shaped brand, resulting in a rippling wave of modern-day nostalgia that’s birthed a Lebron James-starring sequel, live readings, and encore runs in theaters across the country.
Here to challenge your rose-tinted recollections are the folks over at Screen Junkies, who have given the movie a new Honest Trailer. “Based on a sneaker commercial comes a film that got the rights to Michael Jordan and the Looney Tunes,” it begins before describing Space Jam as “the Citizen Kane of live-action-animated hybrid basketball movies.” Watch it below:
Of its “many, many flaws,” the narration highlights Michael Jordan’s pee-wee acting, his giant, ill-fitting khakis, and the film’s warped view of sportsmanship, not to mention the fact that “most of the movie’s runtime is dedicated to Newman not getting fired.” Also, how lame is it that a movie called Space Jam doesn’t take place in space? The trailer even takes a moment to riff on the film’s blockbuster soundtrack and still-functional website.
“Look, millennials,” says the trailer, “I know you’re just getting old enough to feel nostalgia for the first time, but trust me, this one sucks.” Time makes fools of us all.