ENTERTAINMENT REVIEW : The Globetrotters Hoop It Up for the Family : The clown princes of basketball perform comedy, feats of dexterity. They’ll be at the UC Irvine Bren Events Center tonight.

LOS ANGELES —  Looking for a family outing? Why not take in a worldclass basketball game?

You say you’re not a fan, you don’t understand the rules, the kids’ll get bored?

Listen up. The Harlem Globetrotters are in town for their 65th anniversary season--they’ll be at UC Irvine’s Bren Events Center tonight--and their high-spirited, rib-tickling, slam-dunk celebration is for all ages, basketball novice and expert alike.

The Globetrotters are on a 20-year, 7,000-game winning streak against their perennial foes, the “lean, mean, yellow and green” Washington Generals.

In the Globetrotters’ magic hands, the red-white-and-blue basketball zings around the court as if possessed. Before it hits the net, it orbits torsos, spins on fingertips, slides down and bounces off various body parts. Or, it ends up in the audience and returns to the court--mysteriously flat or rolling askew.

The Generals (and referees) put up with being kissed, tweaked and hoisted in the air. Not even the peanut and popcorn vendors are safe--they’re apt to lose their wares to Globetrotters’ center (Sweet Lou) Dunbar. After a Keystone Cops-style chase, he tosses the goodies to eager children.

Audience members must beware, too. Sit in the first couple of rows and find yourself sprayed with water, on the court shooting hoops, dancing to MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This,” or sharing your soft drink and popcorn--and your lap--with a 6-foot-10 center.

There really are moments of serious basketball, however, when both the Generals and the Globetrotters get down to business and race up and down the court, defense and offense getting a workout, nonsense at a minimum.

But the show is mostly passing, dribbling and shooting tricks of remarkable dexterity and comic, naughty patter and hi-jinks, with Dunbar, a.k.a. the “Clown Prince of Basketball,” in the spotlight, backed up by irrepressible team members.

Adept at expressions of injured innocence, Dunbar aims a shot at Washington’s basket because it’s “closer,” puts an opponent in a headlock to “keep him from falling,” uses a referee’s shaven pate to check his reflection, and leaves a General holding the bag, literally, when he finagles a woman’s purse away from her.

Washington tries to get even with Dunbar, but the ref cries foul. The charge? “Attempted murder.” Even the refs get into the act.

Children are handled affectionately. At Sunday’s game at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, Sandra (Sweetness) Hodge--the Globetrotters signed their first woman player, Lynette Woodard, in 1985--brought a little girl on court and let her spin the ball on her finger. Another time, Dunbar “traded” a Washington player to a family in the audience for their 7-year-old, let the small boy shoot baskets until he sank one and awarded him a Globetrotters T-shirt.

(Halftime left the entertainment to youth groups who danced and marched. Television celebrities such as Marsha Warfield of “Night Court,” Jason Hervey of “The Wonder Years,” Mel Harris of “thirtysomething” and “L.A. Law’s” Alan Rachins play a game of “Horse,” shooting hoops for charity.)

The Globetrotters’ clowning is as sharp as their basketball skills, not surprising for a team that has been honing its style since 1927, playing in 110 countries, including China and the Soviet Union.