Review in a Hurry: Sporting a huge 'fro and his trademark exaggerated ego, Will Ferrell leads a team of misfits as a coach/owner/player in the short-lived '70s NBA rival, the ABA. The basketball's bad and the comedy's uneven, but the bit players shine and Ferrell occasionally shoots a three-pointer. A total mess that's nothing but a good time.
The Bigger Picture: The Will Ferrell sports movie is by now so familiar that this one doesn't need much explanation. That it's the Will Ferrell basketball movie should be enough, right? You already know it's a standard underdogs-overcome story packed with surreal humor, a lovable asshole hero and plenty of faces from SNL, The Daily Show and Judd Apatow flicks. (Look, it's Andy Richter, Rod Corddry, Will Arnett, Kristen Wiig and Tim Meadows!)
The only variable is: Will it be funnier than the Will Ferrell soccer and ice-skating movies? The answer: Yes, but it can't touch the Will Ferrell NASCAR movie.
Here, the stage is 1970s Flint, Michigan, during the final year of the second-tier league, the American Basketball Association (yes, it's real). Self-obsessed former pop star Jackie Moon (Ferrell) owns the unpopular local franchise, but he also coaches and plays forward. With the opportunity to merge into the NBA and become a "real" team, he brings in ex-Celtic Woody Harrelson to straighten up the fellas for one last rally of funk, fondue, Pong and go get 'em basketball.
Sounds simple, but Semi-Pro careens all over the court. A few scenes—a game of poker that turns into Russian roulette, for example—reach levels of hilariously sublime ridiculousness but are followed by more empty mugging and out-of-place earnestness. (What's this love-story subplot with Harrelson and Maura Tierney doing in there?)
Ferrell scores often enough, though, and knows when to let his supporting frat boys step up, especially Corrdry and Andrew Daly. (Habitual scene-stealer Arnett, though, is almost wasted as a cranky hometown TV announcer.) A somber, focused André Benjamin even adds a little weight as a player with dreams.
Add it all up, and this movie's nothing more or less than that huge fake-lookin' 'fro on Will Ferrell's head: untidy, familiar and kinda fun.
The 180—a Second Opinion: Will & Co. spoofed the '70s with so much more flair in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, it's a wonder they even bothered here.