Movie Review - Semi-Pro

Jackie Moon is player, coach, and owner of the Flint, Michigan Tropics basketball team. He has just learned that 4 of the basketball teams will be able to join the NBA. His team was not originally one of the ones picked, so he requests that since the season isn't over yet, that the best 4 teams end up getting that prestigious honor. The Tropics aren't that great of a team but they have hot, scantily clad cheerleaders, and record making crooner Jackie Moon, so nothing else really matters to them.

Jackie wants his team to become part of the NBA, but they just haven't been getting the wins they need, so he trades their washing machine for Monix, who has an NBA ring from the previous team he was on, and Monix will get everyone in shape and ready for the big time.

One of the other requirements is that The Tropics need to have a minimum of 2,000 fans in the stands for each game, so Jackie resorts to all types of weird gimmicks like free corndog night (where everyone gets a free corndog if they score more than 125 points) and Jackie wrestles a bear in order to get their required attendance.

I thought this movie would not be that great because I am not that big of a fan of Will Ferrell's works. I think he's an over the top actor and his attitude in real life reminds me a lot of Chevy Chase's....and my opinion of Chevy Chase is that he has been in a lot of really great funny movies, but in real life he comes off as a rude, uncaring, egostical jerk.

But I liked Semi-Pro. The comic bits were ones I hadn't seen before. More times than not, I was laughing instead of groaning, which has been a pleasant change from the majority of comedies I've seen lately. I really enjoyed Woody Harrelson's performance as Monix. My favorite scenes were all the ones with him and his ex-girlfriend played by Maura Tierney. After leaving him because he put basketball before their relationship, she is now the wife of his number 1 fan and the hubby thinks it is SO cool that his favorite player has a "crush" on his wife. All of those scenes were side splitters.

Probably not necessary to see on the big screen, but the gun shot scared the crap out of me and the bear growling was pretty impressive, too. Otherwise, it could wait for a viewing on dvd. I expect there will be a ton of deleted scenes when it comes out on dvd because this is the type of movie that seems like they have a hard time trimming it down to an hour and a half.

After seeing Semi-Pro, I'm still not a huge Will fan, but even if you aren't either, go see it for Woody. And then let me know if you thought the funny stuff outweighed the stupid stuff.

Vixy :]