with the exception of Henry Ford

Rating: 4/10 (2 March 2008)

Greetings again from the darkness. Will Ferrell is one of the funniest guys in show biz. A huge part of comedy is risk. No risk = No comedy. Big time producer, first time director Kent Alterman and "Old School" writer Scot Anderson team up with Ferrell and for some reason play it safe. Very safe. So safe that there are only a few chuckles here and not a single laugh out loud moment.
This movie is just not funny. And it has nothing to do with Ferrell going for another sport-based flick. The ABA and the 70's offer a vast array of topics and targets. Sadly most of those are ignored here. As Jackie Moon, the one hit wonder from the music biz, Ferrell acts as the owner, coach, player, ring-leader and promotional face of the Flint Tropics ... the worst team in the ABA. Sadly, none of this matters because there are just no funny bits here.
Andre Benjamin, Woody Harrelson, Maura Tierney and David Koechner all go through the motions of their lame dialogue. Will Arnett and Andrew Daly as the team radio announcers had my hopes up initially, but alas, turned out to be another one-trick pony. I felt most sorry for Patti LaBelle and Jackie Earle Haley who had to be humiliated to even read their lines.
Nothing is more difficult than comedy and nothing is more pathetic than an unfunny comedy. The weak attempts at drama are always overshadowed by an over the top moment that falls flat ... a bear loose in the arena, a tantrum in the league office, disco dancing, team dancers, etc. The best two moments are the throw-away line about Henry Ford and the introduction of the Alley Oop ... straight from heaven.
As if all this wasn't distressing enough, before the film started we were "treated" to the trailer of Ferrell's next movie ... a reteaming with John C. Riley. When a comedy trailer has no laughs, the hopes for the movie are extremely low. Maybe it is time for Ferrell to grow up and play other people's stuff ... he was great in "Stranger Than Fiction". The money train is tough to jump from, but one's dignity has to be worth something.