Movie Review - 'Semi-Pro'

Semi-Pro

Starring Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, and Andre Benjamin
Directed by Kent Alterman
Rated R

While I think we can all agree that Semi-Pro should be the last of the Will Ferrell sports comedies, it good to see that it’s also a good way to go out. No, it doesn’t make you double over like Old School or Anchorman, but Semi-Pro feels more like a movie Ferrell wanted to make and less like Blades of Glory and Kicking and Screaming, two movies that miserably failed to maximize his dumb baby-man character.

It’s in the Talladega Nights ballpark but with one welcome exception: Semi-Pro is raunchy. Of all of his comedies, only one has been R-rated – Old School – and there are certain differences, most of them involving one or several of George Carlin’s seven words you can’t say on television.

Set in the 1970s in financially depressed Flint, Michigan, Semi-Pro stars Ferrell as Jackie Moon, who spun the success of his hit single “Love Me Sexy” into an ownership stake in the town’s floundering ABA franchise, the Flint Tropics. Moon never strays far from the spotlight, so in addition to owning the team, he coaches and plays, and choreographs the halftime shows. He sings his one and only hit before every game then announces his teammates with personal notes like, “His wife has big cans.”

The Tropics are a cross between the Bad News Bears and the prison football team from The Longest Yard, with one talented player (Andre Benjamin) and a bunch of guys that can’t quit their day jobs at the local car wash because the Tropics aren’t exactly paying current NBA salaries.

But soon enough, these guys might get their payday. The Tropics are playing for the chance to be one of the four ABA teams absorbed into the NBA the following season. Moon trades a washing machine for point guard Ed Monix (Woody Harrelson), and the team starts putting together a memorable season.

Played for big laughs, the most consistent performances here aren’t the most obvious ones: Harrelson is great as serious relief; Monix is not a funny character, and as it turns out, he’s probably the heart of the movie. Also sensational is Mad TV alumnus Andrew Daly as the Tropics play-by-play announcer, Dick Pepperfield, which is just a fun name to say.

But Ferrell’s still the star and he’s still Will Ferrell. And though it’s too late for him to go out on top with his sports comedies, he can at least move on now knowing he made his final shot.