Jul 06 2008
Will Ferrell Drops The Bar With Semi Pro
Starring: Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, Andre 3000
Director: Kent Alterman
Grade: D
Will Ferrell over the years has been at the top of the class as far comedies go. Films such as Old School, Zoolander, Anchor Man, Talladega Nights, and Stranger Than Fiction were hilarious. Lets not forget about the whole ten minutes in Wedding Crashers when Ferrell was hollering for meat loaf. But with films such as Kicking and Screaming and now Semi Pro, one may think that Will Farrell is not really cut out carry a film on his own.
In Semi Pro, Ferrell is again playing a clueless person with high authority. He is playing the same guy in every movie, just this time it takes place in the 70s. Ferrell plays Jackie Moon, the owner, coach, and starting power forward for the Flint Tropics. Co-starring is Woody Harrelson, who plays a more serious, jerk of a veteran basketball player in Monix. Monix joins the team in exchange for a washing machine and begins to use his NBA experience to guide the team to fourth place. Andre 3000 plays Coffee Black, the only really skilled player on the team. Coffee Black also has the potential to not only help the team get to fourth place, but also make it to the NBA.
The only part of the film that I will really remember, is the song “Love Me Sexy” written by Jackie Moon. Other wise this film was a snore. A duo such as Harrelson and Ferrell seemed great on paper, but it turned out that Woody’s character was not funny at all. It’s an oxymoron to see Woody Harrelson in a comedy and not be funny himself. A partnership with Will seemed to be one to die for. I am a huge fan of Will Ferrell and I will continue to be, but I just get so disappointed when his films have to try so hard to be funny. In reality, Will Ferrell does not have to try that hard to be funny. His demeanor alone is funny as hell, but when he has to go and fight a bear like on Semi Pro, he has gone to far. This film had to resort to being silly to get a cheap laugh. All this film really needed was a few “one liners” and the film would have been that much more funny. In just about every Will Ferrell movie or even cameos, you will hear people recite the lines from the film.
Even though Semi Pro was a bust, i am not worried what so ever. I am confident that Will Ferrell will come back strong with Step Brothers. John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell are a good combination. We saw that in Talladega Nights. I’m hoping that I can finish the film satisfied to get some laughter out. I guess one crappy movie here and there is not all that bad however, we expect so much more from Will Ferrell.
That’s because Will Ferrel should be banned from the movie screen, and be required to hand write an apology to every person who ever had to sit through a film or television show he took part in.