Uninspiring fare

Rating: Null/10 (10 August 2008)

The Tropics are an unsuccessful basketball team in the ABA who are mainly kept afloat by the deep pockets and shameless self-promotion of their owner-player-coach Jackie Moon. However the team looks to be coming to an end as the league is collapsing and has agreed to a merger with the much more popular NBA - although only four teams will go through. After forcing a vote in the ABA committee, Jackie gets the pre-selected four teams changed to be the top four teams of that season - a victory only of sorts as his beloved Tropics are far from that lofty league position. So the race begins for Jackie to get his team winning and hit the other requirements to become a NBA team.
Semi-Pro did not really appeal to me when it was advertised because, in so many ways, I felt I had seen the plot, the jokes and the characters before in many other "wacky" sports movies. When it would come to me on DVD instead of me going to it though I decided to give it a try and waited for a time when I was in a simple mood so I could enjoy it. Sadly it turned out to be worse than I thought and the whole film feels like everyone going through a tick list and doing things without a great deal of inspiration or energy. It has its silly moments that some will enjoy but mostly the gags are not that good and it came across like the writer was reliant on the cast to make it sparkle in a way that he hadn't on paper. Outside of the gags we have subplots that don't work and moments of semi-seriousness that only serve to bore the viewer rather than engage - for example I am not sure why I was supposed to care about Monix and Lynn or why so much time was given over to their relationship.
Fans of this type of film may still enjoy this but for the majority of people it will be a case of too much doing too little and the stuff that does show potential not being that well delivered. A lot of the fault rests with the writer Armstrong, a man whose recent work is less than inspiring but lets share the blame to include the directing debut of Alterman, someone who clearly has clout enough to make this happen without anyone suggesting he might not be up to it. His direction does not suit the material and he cannot draw the comedy out. I assume that he too must have been hoping that the right cast will make it fly, but it doesn't happen. Ferrell himself is not to blame as he does his best with what he has and indeed his Jackie Moon character is a good enough one by his standards. The problem comes from the material as it doesn't rise to meet him - a problem that abandons him but leaves others bogged down. Harrelson is the worst victim as he has to carry a character and subplot that nobody cares for - likewise Tierney is wasted. Benjamin and the other players are OK but Arnett and Daly are only sporadically funny in roles that were infinitely funnier in Dodgeball.
Semi-Pro is not a terrible film and it certainly will have some viewers in stitches but for me personally it was tiresome in too many ways. Whole parts of it just didn't work within the requirements of the genre and too many sequences just seemed reliant on the cast pulling something out by their mere presence. The end result is uninspiring at best and there are many other films that are just like this one that are better than this tired effort.