In the early 70s, the NBA existed in tandem with its more flamboyant cousin, the American Basketball Association (ABA). The ABA, with teams both familiar (the New York Nets, the San Antonio Spurs) and not so much (the Virginia Squires, anyone?), was characterized by a flashier style of play and slightly different rules (including the three-point shot). In 1976, four ABA teams, including the Nets and the Spurs, merged into the NBA while the remainder of the ABA teams were dissolved. "Semi-Pro", a typically goofy Will Ferrell comedy, isn't the story of one of those teams. But it's close. In fact, somewhere beneath the pratfalls, the puke jokes and the bear wrestling, there's an honest-to-goodness sports movie trying to emerge. It's a shame it didn't try a little harder. As it is right now, "Semi-Pro" exists uneasily between screwball comedy and polite tribute.
In "Semi-Pro", Will Ferrell plays Jackie Moon, the owner, coach and power forward for the fictional Flint Tropics of the ABA. Jackie's the kind of Ferrell creation that might choreograph a pre-game undersea-themed dance routine or slap a player (twice) for not having faith in the team. He's also a one-hit wonder thanks to the song "Love Me Sexy", an amusing disco throwback co-written by Mr. Ferrell and none other than Nile Rodgers.
But despite (or perhaps because of) his showmanship, the Tropics are pretty bad. Like, last place bad. They have about fifty remaining fans and happily go through the motions of losing each game until the rumor of the impending merger (and corresponding dissolution of the team) spurs Jackie to action. Jackie convinces the ABA commissioner to merge the top four ABA teams into the NBA, and so it becomes Jackie's mission to get his team to fourth place. Not a bad premise for either a comedy or a sports movie, and "Semi-Pro" has moments of each that hang loosely together like Mr. Ferrell's fake sideburns.
It also doesn't help that Jackie isn't much of a character. There's nothing to him aside from the usual Will Ferrell histrionics. Only Woody Harrelson is able to create some semblance of depth out of Monix, a former Boston Celtic benchwarmer that Jackie recruits to the Tropics as a ringer. Monix's reasons for returning to Flint (hint, they have something to do with Maura Tierney) give him a dimension solely lacking from anyone else in the film. Outkast's André Benjamin is also on hand as Clarence Withers (his nickname alternates between "Downtown" and "Coffee Black"), and then there's the usual array of supporting players, including most of the cast of Saturday Night Live (oddly Amy Poehler is missing, though her husband Will Arnett plays a hotheaded announcer).
"Semi-Pro" is written by Scot Armstrong who, though he co-wrote the lousy "School for Scoundrels" and the disappointing remake of "The Heartbreak Kid", also had a hand in "Old School", so he can't be all that bad. There are certainly some funny moments, including a cringe-worthy scenario involving an empty gun, and the aforementioned bear-wrestling sequence, but none rank among Mr. Ferrell's best. Since this is the latest in the emerging genre, The Will Ferrell Sports Movie ("Talladega Nights", "Blades of Glory"), and since it takes place in 1976, you can count on plenty of disco, big hair and bell bottoms. Directed with a light touch by first-timer Kent Alterman, "Semi-Pro" is good for a few laughs, but it's not a slam dunk.
