Jay Phillips (left) as "Scootsie Doubleday" celebrates on the court with Will Ferrell (center) as "Jackie Moon" and the rest of their Flint Tropics teammates in New Line Cinema's comedy, Semi-Pro.
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'Semi-Pro': It might get better with time
Comments 0 | Recommend 0Ferrell movies like a fine wine, only less classy
March 10, 2008 - 5:57 PM
Will Ferrell's movies aren't usually funny to me the first
time I watch them. It's only after I start quoting it does the movie grow on
me.
So maybe in a few months' time I will have enjoyed watching Semi-Pro this past weekend.
The movie takes place in 1976, just before the American Basketball Association (ABA) collapses. Jackie Moon (Ferrell) plays the owner, promoter, coach and star player of the worst team in the ABA, the Flint Michigan Tropics. Jackie must inspire his team to win fourth place in the playoffs in order to merge with the NBA, so he trades a washing machine for a former NBA bench warmer, Monix (Woody Harrelson, No Country for Old Men) to reach his goal.
Rounding out the cast are André Benjamin (Outkast), Andrew Daly (Mad TV), Will Arnett (Arrested Development) and Andy Richter (Andy Richter Controls the Universe), among others.
Semi-Pro is a typical Ferrell comedy, filled with over-the-top crude humor, silly stunts and dumpster pancakes. But I can already foresee which aspects of the movie I'm going to grow to like a few months from now:
Ferrell pours his heart and soul into the Tropics. He doesn't own the team to make money, and he doesn't want the buyout when the ABA dissolves. Something about that is so endearing to me.
The music definitely reminded me that the movie took place in 1976, if Ferrell's and Benjamin's afros weren't enough of a clue.
I felt so bad for the tormented Father Pat the Ref (Matt Walsh, School for Scoundrels), and actually enjoyed David Koechner (Anchorman), who played the Commissioner, in a movie for the first time... possibly ever.
All in all, if you like Will Ferrell's movies, I'd recommend going into this movie with lowered expectations and you'll be happily surprised. If you don't like Will Ferrell's movies, you might want to bench this one.
So maybe in a few months' time I will have enjoyed watching Semi-Pro this past weekend.
The movie takes place in 1976, just before the American Basketball Association (ABA) collapses. Jackie Moon (Ferrell) plays the owner, promoter, coach and star player of the worst team in the ABA, the Flint Michigan Tropics. Jackie must inspire his team to win fourth place in the playoffs in order to merge with the NBA, so he trades a washing machine for a former NBA bench warmer, Monix (Woody Harrelson, No Country for Old Men) to reach his goal.
Rounding out the cast are André Benjamin (Outkast), Andrew Daly (Mad TV), Will Arnett (Arrested Development) and Andy Richter (Andy Richter Controls the Universe), among others.
Semi-Pro is a typical Ferrell comedy, filled with over-the-top crude humor, silly stunts and dumpster pancakes. But I can already foresee which aspects of the movie I'm going to grow to like a few months from now:
Ferrell pours his heart and soul into the Tropics. He doesn't own the team to make money, and he doesn't want the buyout when the ABA dissolves. Something about that is so endearing to me.
The music definitely reminded me that the movie took place in 1976, if Ferrell's and Benjamin's afros weren't enough of a clue.
I felt so bad for the tormented Father Pat the Ref (Matt Walsh, School for Scoundrels), and actually enjoyed David Koechner (Anchorman), who played the Commissioner, in a movie for the first time... possibly ever.
All in all, if you like Will Ferrell's movies, I'd recommend going into this movie with lowered expectations and you'll be happily surprised. If you don't like Will Ferrell's movies, you might want to bench this one.
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