Movie Review for Semi-Pro (2008)

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Review #620 of 365
Movie Review of Semi-Pro (2008) [R] 90 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $6.50
Where Viewed: Harkins Ciné Capri at Northfield 18, Denver, CO
When Seen: 13 March 2008
Time: 5:20 pm
DVD Release Date: 3 June 2008 (click date to purchase or pre-order)
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer

Soundtrack: Download now from Jackie Moon - Semi-Pro (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) - or - order the CD below

Directed by: Kent Alterman (debut)
Written by: Scot Armstrong (The Heartbreak Kid)

Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Will Ferrell (Blades of Glory) • Woody Harrelson (No Country for Old Men) • André Benjamin (Idlewild) • Maura Tierney ("ER") • Andrew Daly ("The Office") • Will Arnett (The Comebacks) • Andy Richter (Blades of Glory) • David Koechner (Blades of Glory) • Rob Corddry (The Heartbreak Kid) • Matt Walsh (School for Scoundrels) • Jackie Earle Haley (Little Children) • DeRay Davis (License to Wed) • Josh Braaten ("Less than Perfect") • Jay Phillips (Holla If I Kill You )

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Despite possessing a decent cast, Will Ferrell's film Semi-Pro, has to rank among his worst films ever. With a derivative story populated with mostly mediocre jokes, the screenplay by Scot Armstrong and directed by Kent Alterman, things start off slowly with yet another "It's all about how zany I can be" Will Ferrell's character intros followed by, unfortunately, a dull, lack-luster film. In effect, it's Blades of Glory on a basketball court, only not nearly as clever or funny. Will Ferrell plays Jackie Moon, the owner, promoter, and player coach of the Flint, Michigan Tropicals. Badly named and even more badly managed, the hapless ABA team sits poised on the brink of being dissolved as the ABA prepares for merger with the NBA. Well, Jackie's not about to sit and watch his team become a sizeable royalty check. No, he proposes instead that the best four teams at the end of the season should be the ones that get to merge into the NBA.
…the film's not even Semi-good.
The irony of course is that he has the worst team with the lowest fan base—people won't show for the games unless there's something terrifying, death-defying, or stomach bloating involved. He immediately trades the team washing machine for a player to be named immediately, Monix (Woody Harrelson) who earned an NBA championship ring riding the pine for the Celtics. Monix returns to Flint to play for the Tropicals and, more importantly, to attempt to rekindle an old romance with Lynn (Maura Tierney). Trying to get the Tropicals into the top 4, then, becomes the struggle and substance of the meandering, monotonous, mind-numbing, tedious film. Either Will Ferrell has no idea how to tell if a screenplay is going to turn out to be a good movie when it's done or this film should have been saved for an April 1 release and served to spoof his fans loyal to seeing his name on the top of a movie poster.

Not only is this film a disappointment to Will Ferrell fans, it's likewise for fans of Woody Harrelson, André Benjamin and Maura Tierney. Will the acting isn't as bad as the writing or the story, it's certainly not going to add anything to Ferrell's assertion that comedies cannot get a fair shake from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Will Ferrell had a great year with Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and Stranger than Fiction two years ago, and he's been on a downward spiral of sameness and shame ever since neither film received the critical acclaim they richly deserved. If you have nothing better to do on a Tuesday afternoon matinee time, and you've seen all of the Academy Award®-nominated films from last year 5 times apiece, and you don't need to get your oil changed or pick up a bottle of luxury shampoo for your Match.com date, then fine, see Semi-Pro. Unfortunately, the film's not even Semi-good.


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Cast Members
Will Ferrell • Woody Harrelson • André Benjamin
Maura Tierney • Andrew Daly • Will Arnett
Andy Richter • David Koechner • Rob Corddry
Matt Walsh • Jay Phillips • DeRay Davis
Director
Kent Alterman
Writer
Scot Armstrong
DVD
VHS
CD Soundtrack
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Review-lite Semi-Pro (2008) [max of 150 words]
Just skip Semi-Pro written by Scot Armstrong and directed by Kent Alterman starring Will Ferrell and a cast of thousands as a Bad News Bear basketball team trying to win the championship. Boring, monotonous, and barely humorous at times, this film isn't even Semi-good.
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