- Will Ferrell stars in Semi-Pro, an outrageous comedy set in 1976 against the backdrop of the maverick ABA – a fast-paced, wild and crazy basketball league that rivaled the NBA and made a name for itself with innovations like the three-point shot and slam dunk contest. Ferrell plays Jackie Moon, a one-hit wonder who used the profits from the success of his chart-topping song “Love Me Sexy” to achie
Will Ferrell stars in Semi-Pro, an outrageous comedy set in 1976 against the backdrop of the maverick ABA – a fast-paced, wild and crazy basketball league that rivaled the NBA and made a name for itself with innovations like the three-point shot and slam dunk contest. Ferrell plays Jackie Moon, a one-hit wonder who used the profits from the success of his chart-topping song “Love Me Sexy” to achieve his dream of owning a basketball team. But Moon’s franchise, the Flint Michigan Tropics, is the worst team in the league and in danger of folding when the ABA announces its plans to merge with the NBA. If they want to survive, Jackie and the Tropics must now do the seemingly impossible – win.The 1970s are back in all their excessive glory in Semi-Pro, an uneven but not uninspired Will Ferrell comedy about a professional basketball team that puts more energy into insane promotional schemes than playing well on the court. Ferrell stars as Jackie Moon, a former pop sensation who made enough money from a couple of hit records (the biggest: “Love Me Sexy”) to buy Flint, Mich.’s the Tropics, a disorganized bunch of losers with one genuine talent named Coffee Black (Andre J. Benjamin). Despite knowing little about the game, Jackie is the Tropics’ coach as well as a player, though his greater love is in coming up with such bizarre marketing stunts as wrestling a bear and attempting a motorcycle jump over a line of cheerleaders. When the Tropics look like they might be shut down, Jackie desperately agrees to let washed-up veteran player Monix (Woody Harrelson) take over coaching, turning the team’s fortunes around–just a bit. The film’s thin premise opens the floodgates to a series of absurd vignettes that suit Ferrell’s silly-satiric brand of frat humor very well. There are choice moments, such as Jackie’s table-shoving tantrum at a meeting of team owners (presided over by an aghast but tolerant commissioner, adroitly played by David Koechner), and his rapid escape from the Tropics’ arena when he realizes everyone in the stands has won free corndogs (at Jackie’s expense). Other performers shine, too, including Will Arnett and Andrew Daly as a glass-half-full/glass-half-empty pair of game announcers, and Maura Tierney as Monix’s former love interest. The script is by Scot Armstrong (The Heartbreak Kid), and the film is the first directorial effort of producer Kent Alterman (Mr. Woodcock). –Tom Keogh
List Price: $ 26.98
Price: $ 3.20
Related Blogs
- Related Blogs on Edition
December 22, 2010
#1
Semi-Funny with a decent story,
Come on everybody! We’re going back! Back to the 70′s. Back to the bell bottoms and the big fro’s. Back to the disco dancing and roller skating days. Back to when basketball players wore really…REALLY… short shorts.
Will Ferrell plays Jackie Moon who made a ton of money from his song “Love Me Sexy”. What does Jackie go and do with it? He’s buys himself a basketball team in the ABA called the Flint `Michigan’ Tropicals. Jackie is a one man show who not only owns the Tropicals, but also coaches them. And to get fans into the stadium, he even promotes them with outlandish themes such as jumping over 10 cheerleaders while he’s wearing roller-skates. Then one day it’s decided that the ABA and the NBA will merge into one, and that 4 teams will go to the NBA. Jackie convinces them to let the 4 BEST teams go, not the 4 most popular. The commish, to make it harder on the not so popular teams, also says they have to bring in at least 2000 fans each game. So Jackie tries everything from free Corn Dog night to Jackie Wrestles Bear night. There are a decent amount of funny parts in the movie, but in all seriousness, the story is better than the comedy this time around.
To me the comedy seemed extremely forced in some parts. Usually Will Ferrell can just flow comedy out of his mouth without even a problem. But here it seemed he didn’t have much help from his supporting cast when it came to impromptu time. Sometimes Will’s antics will make you laugh and sometimes you wish Will would just put his comedy on hold for a few minutes so he could be fresh again. Now don’t get me wrong though, there are funny parts in the movie. I for one liked the bear wrestling scene and also the interaction between Jackie Moon and the ref that is a priest. But that also has to do with the language that is used and there is a LOT of fowl language coming out of Ferrell’s mouth in this movie. MF’r, F That, C-Sucker, and a lot more. I’m sure there will be more on the unrated version, but I have yet to see that one.
I’d also like to say that Andre Benjamin (from the rap group Outkast) did a really good job in this movie playing Clarence `Coffee’ Black. The interaction on the bus between him and Woody Harrelson had me cringing in a good way cause I could just feel the tension between the two. Also Andre, with his big fro and all, just seemed like he should’ve lived in this time. Everything about him just seemed 70′s. Great job.
All in all, this is definitely a rent especially if you like Ferrell. It had it’s funny parts and a decent story, but I’m not sure if it was enough to actually give this a buy.
Was this review helpful to you?
|December 22, 2010
#2
Not his Best,
This is a decent comedy. I don’t think it deserves to be called terrible. But it is very uneven. Will Ferrell plays Jackie Moon a 70′s one hit singing wonder who uses the money to buy an ABA team. When the ABA decides to merge with the NBA 4 teams will go to the NBA with the rest being disbanded including his Flint Tropics. Jackie then comes up with a plan to be part of the merge and tries to inspire his team to 4th place. Ferrell plays his usual character which is getting a little old at this point. The movie is full of great comedy actors and a few decent jokes. Not everything works in this movie, but it is not as bad as some make it out to be. It won’t last long in the theaters so I would just wait for the unrated dvd release in a few months.
Was this review helpful to you?
|December 22, 2010
#3
Consistent Like A Shaq Free Throw,
Synopsis: It’s 1976 in Flint, Michigan. Jackie Moon (Will Ferrell) owns, operates, and plays for the Flint Tropics, which is the laughing stock of the American Basketball Association. Upon hearing the news that there will be a merger between the ABA and the NBA, Moon rejoices… until he hears that only the best teams will make the merger while the others will fold. Distressed, Jackie starts to inspire his group to be better, which includes bringing in veteran player Ed Monix (Woody Harrelson) to help fortify the playing style of the emerging Coffee Black (Andre Benjamin). Will the team succeed long enough to make it to the NBA?
Now, you can’t all expect them to be hits with Will Ferrell and this is definitely an example of that. The jokes were tired after a while and while an uplifting story, it just seemed quite dull in comparison to the other comedies that have been recently released. I’d recommend it to die-hard fans of The Frat Pack, but other movie viewers probably won’t enjoy it as much.
Was this review helpful to you?
|