Stars: Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, Andre Benjamin
Directed by: Kent Alterman
Reviewed by: Adam Mast, Zboneman.com
Grade: B-
Will Ferrell sent up Olympic skating in Blades of Glory, NASCAR in
Talladega Nights, and soccer in Kicking and Screaming. Now he tries his
hand at basketball in the cheerfully stupid Semi-Pro. Does he pull it
off? Barely.
In Semi-Pro, Ferrell plays Jackie Moon, a dopey, immature, team owner/player out to prove his underachieving team's worth when he discovers that the American Basketball League will be absorbed by the up and coming National Basketball Association. It's a major uphill battle as Moon and his nutty team – the Flint Michigan Tropics. First and foremost, I am a card-carrying member of the "I think Will Ferrell is a comic genius" society. His dorky man child schtick works for me and it has since his glory days at Saturday Night Live. This isn't to say I love every movie the guy does. Kicking and Screaming was bordering on awful and Night at the Roxbury surpassed awful. Semi-Pro never reaches the comic heights of Anchorman or Elf, and as an in-your-face potty-mouth extravaganza – Semi-Pro earned a big fat R rating. It isn't as funny as Old School, but it does have good number of hilarious moments.
Like Anchorman, Semi-Pro takes place in the 70s – as is evidenced by the clothing styles and funky, 70s inspired soundtrack - and this time warp allows for some of the movie's more inspired moments. For example, Semi Pro dares to suggest that Moon and his team of misfits invented the alley oop dunk. There's also a hefty amount of crazy slapstick going on including a ridiculous boxing match between Moon and a Grizzly bear.
In the end though, good hearty laughs are only semi-provided and director Kent Alterman would have been well advised to allow Ferrell more improv room, instead of taking the film in a more plot driven direction. Sometimes, Semi-Pro plays like an underdog sports movie instead of what it should be – a parody of an underdog sports movie. Where sports inspired comedies go, Semi-Pro can't hold a candle to Major League or the film it most often tips its hat to - 1977's Slap Shot.
Some are quick to argue that Ferrell is just doing the same old thing here and that he isn't capable of much else. To those folks, I say rent Stranger Than Fiction. The real problem with Semi Pro is that Ferrell doesn't go far enough. If anything, the supporting players more often grab the spotlight. Outkast's Andre Benjamin is an energetic riot as Clarence "Coffee" Black, The Tropics' star player, while Will Arnett gets the biggest laughs as a smart ass sports announcer.
Again, Semi-Pro isn't a bad movie. It certainly has laugh out loud moments, but coming in the shadow of Judd Apatow's big three – Knocked Up, Superbad, and Walk Hard – it comes up short as an adult oriented comedy. Fear not Ferrell fans his next outing will be Step Brothers, produced by Judd Apatow and directed by Anchorman's Adam McKay. These veterans of the Ferrell child tableau should have the Great White Dope right back in step.