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I didn't think this movie was good at all. I expected it to be a lot better. Some parts were okay but it just didn't make a lot of sense. Burt did better in the movies he did before this movie even. Some parts were funny like when he smiled almost evily but other than that, not that good. 2/5

The novel, "Semi-Tough" was authored by Dan Jenkins, possibly the funniest sportswriter who ever lived and a very astute chronicler of football and golf. The novel was absolutely hilarious, completely un-PC but a very realistic satire of pro football 50 years ago. The movie resembles nothing close to the novel. It's not so much even a satire of football as for some reason it becomes a sendup of EST and the various self- help spiritually movements that sprang up in the late 60's, most of which were cons and/or pyramid schemes. The film stinks, but the novel and the sequel, "Life It's Ownself" are a riot. Jenkins was a gem.

Burt Reynolds and Kris Kristhofferson play two pro football players who are interested in the the daughter of the owner of the team. This movie is actually humorous. It shows what these two guys will do to try to win over the girl who is playing these guys off against each other and enjoying every second if it. Two men competing for the girl, and willing to make total fools of themselves in the process, until the Burt Reynolds character wises up, steps back, examines the situation objectively and then plots his strategy to gain the girl's attention. It's not the greatest movie, and it's definitely not a sports movie, but it's worth watching, has funny moments, and shows what a guy is willing to do to get a woman.

If you'd read the book and then went to see the movie, you probably ran screaming from the theater, vowing revenge on the @$$hole writers, director and producers who ruined one of the funniest sports books ever written. The thinly-veiled send-up of "est" was funny enough, but who the heck made that up? It sure wasn't the author of "Semi-Tough", sportswriter Dan Jenkins. I understand the compromises that must often be made when bringing a book to the screen, I understand that cuts and character deletions are necessary to squeeze a good-sized novel into a 2-hour (or so) movie) - but why rewrite the whole damn thing? Big Ed Bookman as the team owner? Where did that $h!t come from? Nothing about what they did to this movie made a lick of sense. Do yourself a favor - instead of trying to track down a copy of this movie on DVD (it's out there), get a copy of the book (it's been recently re-released in trade paperback format) and laugh yourself silly - then track down copies of "Life Its Ownself" and "Rude Behavior" (they're both a bit harder to come by - for reasons I can't fathom), the 2 follow-ons to "Semi-Tough", and laugh some more.

Then - go find copies of every book by Dan Jenkins that you can lay your hands on and read them all: "Baja Oklahoma", "You Gotta Play Hurt", "Dead Solid Perfect" (the "Semi-Tough" of golf, featuring Kenny Lee Puckett, another Fort Worth native. This book also had an unfortunately mediocre movie made out of it - but with the minor thrill of seeing the luscious Corinne Bohrer (who usually plays squeaky-clean suburban mommies) as the lascivious and uninhibited Janie Ruth Rimmer (Kenny Lee's 3rd ex-wife-to-be), walking full-front naked down the hallway in a British hotel to fill the ice bucket - the shocked middle-aged couple who spot her are author Dan Jenkins and his wife, June, in a quick cameo appearance).

More of Jenkins' books that are must-reads: "The Money-Whipped, Steer-Job, Three-Jack Give-up Artist" ('nother golf book, with another - different - Texas golfer) and its follow-up, "Slim and None". Find these books and read 'em - do it - do it now! You'll be glad you did.

Advertised as a sexy comedy about pro-football players and their women, this Michael Ritchie film, based on the book by Dan Jenkins, instead takes aim at fads and other eccentricities of the 1970s, using the sports world as a backdrop. It wasn't the big commercial hit some were predicting, though it garnered good notices for Burt Reynolds, doing another of his amiable walk-throughs. Jill Clayburgh, just prior to her breakthrough in "An Unmarried Woman", plays the daughter of the football team's owner, and her rapport with Reynolds is surprisingly instantaneous. Kris Kristofferson, on the other hand, ends up playing straight man to her and pal Reynolds, and the third-wheel position subdues low-keyed Kristofferson even further (he evaporates). There are some funny potshots at the EST craze, with Bert Convy well-cast as a self-help guru, but the romantic comedy at the heart of the piece never quite takes off. Ritchie puts all his sting into the absurdities happening around the principals, a move which consequently leaves the finale seeming half-baked. ** from ****