The Meeting of Two Comedic Traditions

Rating: 9/10 (30 June 2016)

BASEketball is a confluence of two great cross-generational comedic talents; David Zucker who is one third of the great ZAZ writing team responsible for Airplane! (1980), Top Secret! (1984) and Hot Shots! (1991) and South Park (1997-Present) creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone who need no exclamation points. In the film, two underachieving friends stumble onto a front yard game that becomes a sports phenomenon grabbing the attention and imagination of the masses. Quickly becoming sports heroes, our duo's friendship begins to fracture under the pressure of their new-found success, not to mention a rivalry for the affections of a woman (Yasmine Bleeth).
Now I need not tell those who have seen this film why it's great. Yet for the uninitiated let me say this movie has it all as far as low- brow comedy. Solid gross-out humor, goofy sight-gags and a lot of locker room insults largely lobbed on Dian Bachar's diminutive character Squeak. Director David Zucker actually invented the game of Baseketball years ago and attached Parker and Stone by telling them they're going to make a Hollywood movie out of the stupidest idea he could think of. The ridiculousness of the story and the exaggerated relationships between the characters keep the rollicking laughs at an even pace which helps even the most cynical of filmgoers to overlook the film's shortcomings. Plus it has a killer ska tinged soundtrack featuring Reel Big Fish and Smash Mouth...Shut up! Ska's not dead!