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Semi-Pro (Unrated) | 
| Director: Kent Alterman
Actors: Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, Andr?? Benjamin, Deray Davis, Maura Tierney
Studio: Warner Bros.
Buy New: $14.99
Rating:  66 reviews
Sales Rank: 4865
Genre: Comedy
Rating: Unrated
Media: Video On Demand
Running Time: 99 Minutes
ASIN: B0018SUE72
Theatrical Release Date: February 29, 2008
Release Date: October 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Synopsis:
Will Ferrell stars in Semi-Pro, an outrageous comedy set in 1976 against the backdrop of the maverick ABA a fast-paced, wild and crazy basketball league that rivaled the NBA and made a name for itself with innovations like the three-point shot and slam dunk contest.Ferrell plays Jackie Moon, a one-hit wonder who used the profits from the success of his chart-topping song "Love Me Sexy" to achieve his dream of owning a basketball team. But Moons franchise, the Flint Michigan Tropics, is the worst team in the league and in danger of folding when the ABA announces its plans to merge with the NBA.If they want to survive, Jackie and the Tropics must now do the seemingly impossible WIN. |
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| Customer Reviews: Read 61 more reviews...
Semi-Funny with a decent story May 5, 2008
M. B Cole (Las Vegas, NV)
13 out of 14 found this review helpful
Come on everybody! We're going back! Back to the 70's. Back to the bell bottoms and the big fro's. Back to the disco dancing and roller skating days. Back to when basketball players wore really...REALLY... short shorts.
Will Ferrell plays Jackie Moon who made a ton of money from his song "Love Me Sexy". What does Jackie go and do with it? He's buys himself a basketball team in the ABA called the Flint `Michigan' Tropicals. Jackie is a one man show who not only owns the Tropicals, but also coaches them. And to get fans into the stadium, he even promotes them with outlandish themes such as jumping over 10 cheerleaders while he's wearing roller-skates. Then one day it's decided that the ABA and the NBA will merge into one, and that 4 teams will go to the NBA. Jackie convinces them to let the 4 BEST teams go, not the 4 most popular. The commish, to make it harder on the not so popular teams, also says they have to bring in at least 2000 fans each game. So Jackie tries everything from free Corn Dog night to Jackie Wrestles Bear night. There are a decent amount of funny parts in the movie, but in all seriousness, the story is better than the comedy this time around.
To me the comedy seemed extremely forced in some parts. Usually Will Ferrell can just flow comedy out of his mouth without even a problem. But here it seemed he didn't have much help from his supporting cast when it came to impromptu time. Sometimes Will's antics will make you laugh and sometimes you wish Will would just put his comedy on hold for a few minutes so he could be fresh again. Now don't get me wrong though, there are funny parts in the movie. I for one liked the bear wrestling scene and also the interaction between Jackie Moon and the ref that is a priest. But that also has to do with the language that is used and there is a LOT of fowl language coming out of Ferrell's mouth in this movie. MF'r, F That, C-Sucker, and a lot more. I'm sure there will be more on the unrated version, but I have yet to see that one.
I'd also like to say that Andre Benjamin (from the rap group Outkast) did a really good job in this movie playing Clarence `Coffee' Black. The interaction on the bus between him and Woody Harrelson had me cringing in a good way cause I could just feel the tension between the two. Also Andre, with his big fro and all, just seemed like he should've lived in this time. Everything about him just seemed 70's. Great job.
All in all, this is definitely a rent especially if you like Ferrell. It had it's funny parts and a decent story, but I'm not sure if it was enough to actually give this a buy.
 Missed Free Throw Opportunities June 17, 2008
Rocky Raccoon (Boise, ID)
8 out of 15 found this review helpful
It must have been sophomore week. `Meet The Spartans (Rated)' and `Semi-Pro' were both released on June 3rd making them top competitors for the cheesiest comedy of the week. Which one won is beyond the scope of my judgment, but both films had their moments, and both qualify for contenders of the year.
`Semi-Pro' stars Will Ferrell, so we know partly what to expect of the material, but the quality is in position we're to pose during the field of play. Ferrell plays Jackie Moon, the coach of NBA franchise expansion team, the Flint, Michigan "Tropics". We can only deduce by the name that they had once belonged to a city known for warmer days, especially during the winters, but it's an effective touch, letting us know the daunting task of coming up from the gutter.
The movie does this in more ways than one. Jackie is one of the team's chief promoters. Desperate, he resorts to anything from "Free Gerbil Night" to a fundraiser fight in a boxing ring with a ferocious bear. Always at the mercy of the NBA Commissioner (David Koechner) and their hearing board, Jackie has to get his basketball team out of the doldrums and back in the heat.
It's not all gloom and doom. On their team is former Celtic and NBA championship ring bearer, Monix (Woody Harrelson) whose role in victory was cursory at best. Still, the team has some potential pro players on their roster, making the goals at least tangible enough to keep us watching. Part of the plot involves Monix renewing his interest in former flame, Lynne, which does little either for the plot or our interest.
At the beginning the movie relies a lot on genital jokes, but just like the inspiration and perspiration, it only improves on form. (It's not that I object per se, but don't expect this film to hit you like 'Superbad (Rated)' did.) Oscar nominee Jackie Earl Haley doesn't provide much comedy, but he gets three-pointers (comparatively) for his acting. Mainly a plot device, he improves the teamwork, but not by much. The film's best assets come from the game announcers, Dick Pepperfield (Andrew Daly) and Lou Redwood (Will Arnett) who are just as crude as anyone else, but whose wit and delivery greatly improve the show.
Farrell fans should note that he's still got the right touch. Harrelson at times seems lackluster, so don't expect a `No Country for Old Men,' `Kingpin,' or even a Woody of 'Cheers' performance, but I can't fault him. Blame Scot Armstrong's script--for, well--almost everything. Overall, `Semi-Pro' is no `Blades of Glory (Full Screen Edition),' `Anchorman - The Legend Of Ron Burgundy (Unrated Full Screen Edition),' or 'Talladega Nights - The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (Unrated Full Screen Edition),' but if you can laugh at anything Farrell does, then you're in the game fer sure. I vote for Clarence "Coffee Black" (Andre' Benjamin) as MVP for injecting some badly needed inspiration into the whole venue.
The best scene: Seeing the Tropics dressed in elaborate sea horse costumes, wiggling to disco music during the half-time show.
The worst scene: Watching a devoted fan get aroused while Monix gets intimately reacquainted with Lynne on the couch.
Final thought: I'll bet the promotional commercials sell more Old Spice underarm deodorant than DVD copies. I don't want to be mean, but I hope so.
Not his Best March 16, 2008
Ron (Jersey)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
This is a decent comedy. I don't think it deserves to be called terrible. But it is very uneven. Will Ferrell plays Jackie Moon a 70's one hit singing wonder who uses the money to buy an ABA team. When the ABA decides to merge with the NBA 4 teams will go to the NBA with the rest being disbanded including his Flint Tropics. Jackie then comes up with a plan to be part of the merge and tries to inspire his team to 4th place. Ferrell plays his usual character which is getting a little old at this point. The movie is full of great comedy actors and a few decent jokes. Not everything works in this movie, but it is not as bad as some make it out to be. It won't last long in the theaters so I would just wait for the unrated dvd release in a few months.
 The worst yet June 11, 2008
D. Frank (Wisconsin)
6 out of 9 found this review helpful
Don't get me wrong, I love Will. However, this movie is a stinker. I held out hope it would pick up steam from the start, but was disappointed. The high point was... it does come to an end eventually. Sorry Will. Better luck next time.
Ferrell Falls Flat March 2, 2008
Cory T. Shaeffer (Pittsburgh)
4 out of 11 found this review helpful
This movie is just not that funny. Plain and simple. It is not wort the price of admission to see, and it is not even worth the price of a rental, to be honest. This is by far Will Ferrell's worst effort, and he is bogged down by a poor supporting cast, including the has-been Woody Harrelson, who tries to reprise his role from kingpin as the drunken, has-been ex-pro, but it is not as sharp this time around. Maybe that is because Kingpin happened twelve years ago. As for Ferrell, he needs to break out of the whiny Jim Carrey impersonation rut he has been in lately, because he needs another strong male comedic lead to be effective (Vince Vaughn helped him greatly in Old School, Jon Heder helped him in Blades of Glory) and that was not the case with this film. Any laughs were derived from moments not intended to be funny, and the sharp one-liners from past films in this genre were absent throughout. The punch lines were not delivered well, and the actors setting up the punch lines failed to deliver as well. This effort could have been funnier if it went for some younger actors like Animal House, or thrown in some cameos by real NBA players. If Happy Gilmore, Caddyshack, Major League, and Kingpin were the standards of funny sports films, then this is nowhere close. In other words, comparing Semi-Pro to those films is like comparing Airplane and Naked Gun to Police Academy 7. I'm not sure how much more Will Ferrell the public will be able to take if he keeps doing drivel like this. Watching my 85 year old uncle's home movies on 8mm would have provided more entertainment...and laughs.
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