Absolutely Hilarious

Rating: 8/10 (30 December 2005)

BASEketball is simply one of the funniest films I've ever seen. I'm a big fan of South Park so I always knew that Trey Parker and Matt Stone would once again, have me in stitches. On the other hand, I didn't think they were going to make me laugh so hard that I couldn't breathe! It's obvious that David Zucker wrote the film with Parker and Stone's audience in mind as the plot and gags are very immature, but they are also very observant and true. The American Football celebrations for instance, ring true across many other sports and in this film are simply exaggerated. The plot as a whole is actually quite good. The idea of a game made up on someone's driveway becoming a professional sport is almost inspiring and the storyline between Coop (Parker) and Remer (Stone) is done extremely well. It isn't one of the most complicated or demanding of stories but you're not expecting Shakespeare when you watch this!
The acting is anything but strong in this film but it really doesn't matter. Parker and Stone aren't bad actors, not great either but they knew what to do in this film and it works. Robert Vaughn is definitely not at his best in this film but otherwise, effective as an obstacle character. Jenny McCarthy and Yasmine Bleeth are both pretty terrible in this film but they're both in due to their looks than anything else. The best acting accolade has to go to Dian Bachar. He is quite brilliant as the guy who's the brunt of all the jokes and gets ridiculed by commentators and interviewers. The jokes are visual rather than spoken so the acting made little difference in how funny the film is.
The jokes are mainly 'gross out' comedy, especially in the psych-out scenes which are all fantastic. I'm not always impressed by 'gross out' humour but it is done very well in this film as it is very original but not too disgusting to put the audience off from watching. There is also a fair amount of slapstick involved which is a lot more intelligent than someone simply walking in to things and having things drop on their head. What this film benefits from is the mixture of humour it provides. Everybody should be able to laugh at this film even if it's only a bit of the film.
Whilst not the most mature offering the world has ever witnessed, BASEketball is a hilariously funny, well written and fast paced film that entertains very easily. It is of course an acquired taste but anyone who likes comedy and doesn't take films too seriously will absolutely love this film.