"Semi-Pro" (2008) - Movie Review

Writing something regularly as movie reviews makes you always feel obligated whenever you watch a film, even if it means to kill some time. Despite the genre, there is a task in the head evaluating and trying to form sentences out of the words coming out from the screen. There is a tread mill running with various paces depending on how the film varies the speed. If watching a comedy film, it should take the pace should be slow and relaxed, right? Actually not, because it is difficult to pen down a nice review for a comedy film, especially if it is openly termed as the “entertainer” (it is even tougher for block buster stupid movies). Having explained that, “Semi-Pro” is so stupid that it does work and made me switch off the tread mill for a while.

There used to be ABA (American Basketball Association) from 1967 and got merged into NBA in 1976. The film happens at the end of the merger with four teams from ABA which gets selected to go into the NBA. Owner, Coach and player of the Flint Tropics in Michigan, Jackie Moon (Will Ferrell) wants to get into that by placing his team in top four. It is one another rising-from-nothing-to-win-the-tense-final-with-one-point-to-score film with good calculated raunchiness. And it can be collectively said that it has a pool of funny characters to make it a team film with some heart too.

Ferrell has often been called irritating and obnoxious, which in every possibility to have in the character of Jackie Moon. And surprisingly, this insane show runner who is obsessed with the fame and passion for putting on sincere entertainment is actually quite likeable. That is the reason in fact his team mates like him and enjoys the company, but honestly they have the fear of going back to the menial jobs they need to take care of to run their life. They obviously suck big time in their game with one good player to notice, Clarence (André Benjamin). He wants to make it into the NBA and Moon in the desperation to save the team, goes on to trade the washing machine to get Kentucky’s Monix (Woody Harrelson), an edge of the retirement guy trying to patch up things with his ex-girlfriend, Lynn (Maura Tierney).

The film belongs as much as to Harrelson as it to Ferrell. Harrelson brings in the plausibility to get the plot the inch of the believability it needs. And you got to appreciate Father Pat the Ref (Matt Walsh) who along with the commentators Lou (Will Arnett) and Dick Pepperfield (Andrew Daly) has the flavour needed for root for this town based team. The mix of the people with immediate sense of what ticks them of and how they jokingly tell the honest feeling towards each other is hilarious. The poker scene with the gun on the run is a very good piece of a prop comedy and there is something new in it, which is that it keeps on the edge to be scarily funny on when the gun would go off.

On any means this cannot compete with the continuous string of comedy the team of Judd Apatow brings in. Apatow’s creation finds the emotion amongst the extreme raunchiness. While it takes the comedy without any stop, they manage to place the emotional part of it right on time which makes more sense giving a complete satisfaction. Jackie Moon and his team mates and how loyal they are to the team (even the commentators) carry that emotion for this stupidly funny piece.