Semi-Pro
Directed by Kent Alterman
New Line Cinema, 2008
By Caesar Martini
Once again Will Ferrell busts out his patented, hilariously-and-childlishly-unaware dope character and applies it to a sports theme. Semi-Pro sees Will Ferrell as the owner, coach, promoter, and player of an ABA basketball team in the ’70s, just before the ABA was assimilated into the NBA. Shenanigans ensue as Ferrell and his newest player, played by Woody Harrelson, attempt to turn the team’s poor record and shoddy attendance around.
There’s more to the plot than that, but it’s really just there to serve as a vehicle for the comedy. There’s a subplot involving Harrelson’s character trying to win back a lost love (Maura Tierney), questions about what it means to be a champion player, and probably some other stuff, but it’s hard to care about it because it’s barely there. I think the filmmakers tried a little too hard to make things funny and not hard enough making anything matter.
As usual, Ferrell’s character is an idiot (see Talladega Nights, Blades of Glory, Anchorman, etc). Now, there’s nothing wrong with Ferrell’s schtick — let’s face it, the guy is hilarious (how many times have you heard an Anchorman quote? A personal favourite: “You’re a smelly pirate hooker”). But Semi-Pro plays out like a tired, weaker version of previous Ferrell movies.
And for some reason, they decided to load up enough swearing to get an R rating, which was a huge mistake — because the majority of the swearing in the film is completely unnecessary, it has the double effect of reducing the number of people who can be admitted to the movie, and comes off like swearing just for the sake of swearing.
Surprisingly, the funniest part of the movie for me was the announcing team, and mostly Andrew Daly, who plays announcer Dick Pepperfield. Something about the blandly cheerful delivery of his lines was extremely amusing to me.
I still laughed out loud from time to time, and if you like Ferrell you will probably like Semi-Pro. But if you go in there expecting to be titillated to the extent that you were in previous Ferrell comedies, you’ll be let down. It’s a decent attempt, but falls way short of expectations.
