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'Semi-Pro' fails to score laughs
Movie Review: Semi-Pro
By John Wirt
jwirt@theadvocate.com
Advocate movie critic
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out of 4 stars.
Even if you haven’t seen every Will Ferrell movie, it’s safe to say that the dim Semi-Pro is the worst of Ferrell. It’s definitely not in the same league as Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, another of Ferrell’s ’70s-set comedies.
Ferrell stars as the childish, stupid Jackie Moon, owner of the Tropics, a professional basketball team based in Flint, Mich. A musical one-hit wonder, Moon brought the sports franchise with royalties generated by his No. 1 song, “Love Me Sexy.”
In many ways, Moon is the Tropics. Besides owning the team, he’s coach, promoter and a player. Under Moon’s foggy leadership, the Tropics are filling pitifully few seats at the Flint Fairgrounds Coliseum. They are the worst team in the ABA.
The comedy-divested Semi-Pro tries to extract laughs from disco-era fashions of the day. But the novelty of ’70s attire on screen, amusing though it was in 2002’s Austin Powers in Goldmember and 2004’s Anchorman, is worn out. That leaves Semi-Pro dependent upon Ferrell’s silliness. He comes up short, leaving Semi-Pro a nearly laughless loss, retardation jokes included.
Semi-Pro dribbles sadly through its requisite, feature-length 90 minutes: Moon throws a pathetic tantrum at an ABA league meeting; Moon teaches his players goofy choreography for a half-time show; Moon spins his own hit record at a local disco; Moon wrestles a bear. It feels much longer than 90 minutes.
Moviegoers also get to know a few members of Tropics’ organization. André Benjamin, actor and member of the great musical group, Outkast, co-stars as the ragtag team’s Afro-topped, underachieving star player. Andy Richter is team manager, Bobby Dee, a role that suggests the actor made a tragic mistake by leaving Late Night with Conan O’Brien those many years ago.
Woody Harrelson co-stars as Monix, a washed-up player who’s traded from another team in exchange for the Tropics’ washing machine. Sporting a Javier Bardem hairstyle, the grim but basketball-smart Monix has an ulterior motive for coming to Flint, an old flame played by Maura Tierney. Will Arnett and Andrew Daly are the team’s loyal broadcast commentators.
Following the sports movie play list, Semi-Pro pointlessly trots out an underdog-does-good plot, locker-room dramatics and cliffhanger game moments. This not-ready-for-primetime, weary and stale movie should have stayed on the bench.
