"Semi-Pro" Review - Written by TonyD

“Semi-Pro”
2008
** out of ****
Director: Kent Alterman
Cast: Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, Andre Benjamin


Will Ferrell is slowly becoming unfunny. Yes, it’s true. Don’t worry, he still has the same type of humor that he used to have in films like “Anchorman” and “Talladega Nights,” but the comedic element is slowly going to the shitter. I haven’t said this about a Will Ferrell movie since “Elf” (excluding “Blades of Glory,” because that wasn’t a Will Ferrell movie… that was a Jon Heder movie). “Semi-Pro” is still funny, and I laughed at quite a few scenes, but overall, those few jokes were it. And being that it was written by the same person who wrote “Old School” and “Road Trip,” it’s just a failure as far as comedies go.

Ex-pop star Jackie Moon (Will Ferrell) made a fortune with his hit song “Love Me Sexy,” and with the profits, he purchased a basketball team in the ABA. He didn’t only become the coach, but he became the power-forward and the promoter. As good as he thinks his team is, he doesn’t realize that everyone on the outside consider his team, the Flint Tropics, is terrible, even his own teammates think so. When the ABA and the NBA announce that they are merging together, the four best teams in the ABA will be going to the NBA.

So in order to get to the NBA, the Tropics have to have a great record, sell an average of 2000 tickets a game, and prove that they have fans. Moon knows how to get the better record when he trades a washing machine for NBA player Ed Monix (Woody Harrelson). Monix, being the benchwarmer for the Boston Celtics, comes to the ABA hoping to spice things up, but it’s up to Moon and Coffee Black (Andre Benjamin) to allow him.

That I can say no more isn’t really surprising. To tell you the truth, I’m surprised I got that far with the plot. The plot isn’t anywhere close to being interesting, but at the same time, “Semi-Pro” doesn’t need to be. It doesn’t matter because most of us will go into a Will Ferrell movie expecting laughs and one-liners… right? Not really. Of course, there are a few laughs here and there, but as far as spending you seven or eight bucks, you only receive four dollars of your money’s worth. That’s just half or a little over. I’d like to see a movie entertain me a bit more if I’m going to pay that kind of money.

It’s pretty bad when you go from starring in an Oscar winning picture to a film that has a chance to be a contender in the 2008 Raspberry Awards. I’m questioning how this happens to a guy like Woody Harrelson. He can do such a great job in such a great film, but he stars in such a poor film and it doesn’t add anything to the mix. He feels miscast compared to everyone else here, and that’s including Outkast’s Andre Benjamin. It’s hard to believe that two great actors can star in a movie that doesn’t succeed the way it should be.

I can also say the same thing about Will Ferrell. We see a funny side of him in every film he does, where he acts completely random and has characters that act like they ate complete bullshit. But then we get a film from him every once in a blue moon, like “Winter Passing” and “Stranger than Fiction,” where he goes into a completely different direction by going from being funny to being serious. That is what I started to miss while watching the movie. Between this, “Anchorman,” and “Talladega Nights,” Will Ferrell has been playing the same exact role for the good part of four years, and I think it’s about time for a change.

But there is no one that I’m more disappointed at than screenwriter Scot Armstrong. Lord knows how many times I can praise the guy that gave a whole new meaning to running freely with your clothes off, but now I’m starting to feel like that it was his one-hit wonder. And if I knew better before seeing this movie that he wrote “School for Scoundrels” and “The Heartbreak Kid” previously, I would have stayed far away from “Semi-Pro,” which is what I should have done in the first place.

As much as it is killing me to recommend the movie, I just can’t do it. It’s not nearly as funny as the R-rated trailer suggested, but it’s not nearly as bad as some of the critics have suggested. It’s already infinite times better than “Meet the Spartans,” but it is not even close to being half as good as “Strange Wilderness.”

I want that line quoted and put in a television ad.

P.S. The cameos alone are worth the film, you have some fantastic cameos from Will Arnett, David Koechner, and Jackie Earle Haley. The fact that they aren’t in it more makes me not able to recommend it even more.