Will Ferrell's newest comedy, Semi-Pro, about a nearly defunct basketball team, might put points on the board, but it's a lay-up -- definitely not a slam dunk.
After one-hit-wonder stardom with his hit "Love Me Sexy," singer Jackie Moon kept a promise to his mother by buying -- as well as coaching and starting at center for -- a local American Basketball Association (ABA) team, the Flint Michigan Tropics.
When the announcement that the top four ABA teams would be merged into the NBA comes, the Tropics must find a way to climb from last place in the league to, at least, the fourth spot on the coveted merger list.
As one could expect from the trailers, Semi-Pro is what might be expected: the Will Ferrell show. If you have seen Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby or Blades of Glory, don't expect much variation in the type of humor in this film.
However, Semi-Pro seemed to feature even more of Ferrell, which hurt what I think could have been a promising showing by the whole cast. André Benjamin, who, I thought, gave a great performance in the action flick Four Brothers, is cast as a forgettable ball hog who eventually learns to play the game with his team. Can you say sports movie cliché?
Woody Harrelson is also cast in an impressively bland role as Monix, a post-NBA has-been who manufactured his trade to the Tropics (for a washing machine) so he could get close to his ex-girlfriend, a story that goes inexplicably unresolved. Her husband is also strangely fond of Monix, which yielded some awkwardly unfunny sex jokes.
Will Arnett also has a small role as the Tropics' alcoholic, chain-smoking, announcer, Lou Redwood. Redwood's comments about the Tropics' games make for some of the most entertaining parts of the movie but don't transcend the tired plot.
Although the film generates laughs sporadically, I found myself watching Ron Burgundy throwing chairs in an ABA meeting room, Ricky Bobby trying to motivate a basketball team while dressed as a giant sun and Buddy the Elf being amazed at a brand new type of basketball play.
Did I mention that Frank the Tank makes an appearance as a drunk Jackie Moon? What I'm getting at is there was nothing to set this performance by Ferrell apart from most of his other recent roles.
A light at the end of this dim, not quite dark tunnel of a movie is the fact that, with my past experiences with Ferrell's films, such as Anchorman and Talladega Nights, the second time always seems to be funnier than the first. Maybe a second viewing will make Semi-Pro age like a fine wine, but I doubt the masses will be quoting it as heavily.
So, if you are a diehard Ferrell fan, be prepared for the same recipe he has been cooking up since Old School (with the exception of Stranger Than Fiction) and don't expect much more.
I'll probably see it a second time just to make sure it's not as laughless as it was the first time, but I'm not keeping my hopes up for anything spectacular from the perpetually similar characters Ferrell creates.
Grade: C-
