Semi-Pro

Semi-pro will not go down in the anals of great comedies.

If you are looking for a plot synopsis, well this movie is not for you. It's pretty short on story and pretty high on funny bits.

The one thing I will say is that the film is not overpowered by Will Ferrell silliness. Oh don't mistake me there is some silliness but it is only part of a greater picture.

It has 4-5 hilarious scenes and many lines that will be quotable for a long time. I left the theatre laughing and repeating line with my friends. And really what more are you asking for in a Will Ferrell Comedy???

Figured the holiday was a great time to catch this movie, which I wasn't overly excited about, but thought it would be something to do on a lazy afternoon.

Got to the cinema a tad early and sat down and played some golf on my phone. About 10 mins in and I was the only one there. Awesome. Sadly about 5mins later two losers with no friends walked in, making it a cosy cinema of 3.

The film starts with a pre-game intro of the Flint Tropics, a struggling team in the former ABA basketball league. We learn from the get go that Jackie Moon (Ferrell, in a role not much of a stretch for him) is the team owner, promoter, coach as well as a player. Jackie brought the team on the back of his one-hit wonder "Love Me Sexy" and is in it just for the fame and fun. Before too long Jackie finds out his team will absorbed by the ABA-NBA merger...unless he can get them in the Top 4 teams. Jackie goes out and signs (from a trade for a washing machine) Monix, played by formerly good actor Woody Harrelson in a minor attempt to tun things around. Soon he makes some other changes, such as agreeing to let Monix become coach to get his team into the NBA. Will it work......? See it to find out.

There's some more good quirky Ferrell humour, but this isn't a classic. The story had a lot more potential but in some circumstances went too oddball and weird and missed some good opportunities, probably largely due to the extra screen time given to Ferrell. Give him a few better support comedians and this could have been a classic. They missed some great opportunities with the basketball action too. One of the early scenes was gold.....but then after that very little was paid attention to.

It was absolutely hilarious. I love this movie, I love the sarcasm that goes into making fun of amateur sports and how easy it is to make it as a funk singer.

the first 30mins of this movie is as good as anchorman i mean i was laughing out loud in the cinema. after that it goes down hill though i don't think will ferrell is to blame. while anchorman and dodgeball had a great supporting cast of characters semi pro only has will ferrell and the two commentators that raise a laugh.

many jokes didn't work for me because of the subject matter (i don't know much about basketball) and the sex scene falls flat on it's face and is embarrassing to watch. the jive turkey scene i didn't get and when will ferrell is off the screen the film starts to take it self too seriously and you're just wanting will to come back on the screen and do something funny.

will ferrell is on top form in this movie but a lot more could have been made of his character. the premise of a washed up singer spending ridiculous amounts of money is a good idea, but is stuck in a sports movie were the loser team comes good in the end. we've seen so many times before and sadley done better.

i love will ferrell but i can see why he has so many haters. while i think he'll never better anchorman semi pro and blades of glory for me show a decline and his next film needs to be a step in the right direction.

i'll be honest there are a few laughs in this film. But do not go to the cinema to see this film, just catch it on TV otherwise you'll come out of the cinema feeling you could have spent your on money on something more useful...like a pen, paper and proceed to write to the production company to let them know that they flaked out with this movie.

Ferrell is funny, its just the rest of the cast that aren't. The jokes throughout aren't particularly great. But i guess it is watchable.

I just hope this formula of sport/comedy film's is either scrapped. If it is used again hopefully someone will do a good job.