Celtic Pride is essentially a one note comedy film, yet the pairing of two likable comedy men, an original plot, and some heavy jokes make this film more than average. This is a different kind of sports comedy where the excitement isn't coming from the players, but two rabid fans of the Boston Celtics.
Dan Akroyd and Daniel Stern play Mike and Jimmy, two hardcore fans of the Boston Celtics. The Celts are in the finals with the Utah Jazz and their star player selfish, ballhog Lewis Scott (Wayans). After losing game six, it's on to game seven where either the Celts or the Jazz will become the champions. So Mike and Jimmy go to a nightclub after the game, and get drunk with Scott, before they wake up in Mike's basement with him tied up, and no recollection of the events that took place the night before.
Mike and Jimmy find out from their cop-buddy (Guilfoyle) that kidnapping is kidnapping no matter what time they let the victim go. So they think they should show something for it, and hold Lewis till after game seven so the Celts have a good shot of winning. Their plan goes awry when the cad starts playing mind-games with the two in order to disassemble their longtime friendship.
This is one of the comedies you have to search under the bed for. Even with Akroyd, Stern, and Wayans on the cover this film is usually lost in the dust compared to Akroyd's others like The Great Outdoors and Ghostbusters. This isn't better than those two works of comedic gold, but they do present the same feel-good aspect and have a warm, fuzzy, classic feeling to them.
The pairing of Dan Akroyd and Daniel Stern wasn't unlikely at the time, and they do a good job at being the two buddies. The funniest stuff is from Damon though as he continues to play games with Mike's head saying that "you're his bitch" and consistently taunts him. Thankfully, the movie isn't just made up of these games because if it was, I don't think we could call this a buddy comedy.
Now that it's 2011, I was surprised to see Judd Apatow's name all over this film as producer, story creator, and writer. The current generation knows Apatow for making heartfelt, with an essence of raunch and silly comedy-drama premises. In the nineties, he was more about the laughs than the drama. Celtic Pride can also serve as a time capsule of a different time in a film-maker's life.
Celtic Pride doesn't over-shoot or overstay its welcome. It runs for a comfortable ninety-one minutes, and it goes by quickly. A different side of sports comedies adding flavor and a good amount of heart, Celtic Pride has green and white blood pumping thru its veins.
Starring: Dan Akroyd, Daniel Stern, and Damon Wayans. Directed by: Tom DeCerhio.
