[MOVIE REVIEW] SEMI-PRO
I just can’t help it. I admit it. I try as best I can to not feel this way, I really do. But the simple fact of the matter is that I just find Will Ferrell so effortlessly hilarious in pretty much everything he does. He’s the sort of guy who has made, in my mind, two flat-out awful movies (Bewitched and Kicking & Screaming) that have had individual moments of hilarity in them simply because of him. I’m not one of those people (Hello Kristina, my love!) who thinks his schtick is getting old. I think every glance, look, line-reading etc. is always so brilliantly left of centre that there’s something to be gotten from everything he does.
You can only imagine how excited I was by Semi Pro then right? I mean, Ferrell doing a “sports” comedy again in the wake of Talladega Nights (racing cars) and, to a lesser extent, Blades of Glory (ice skating), set in an era he mined so much comedy from with the cult classic Anchorman, and co-starring Woody Harrelson who, the last time he did an “adult sports comedy”, delivered Kingpin onto us. Not to mention a supporting cast that includes Rob Corrdry, Tim Meadows, Andy Richter, David Koechner, Will Arnett and the fabulous Kristen Wigg (who, for me, steals the entire movie in under sixty seconds!). This is going to be comedy gold right? Right?
I arrived late for the screening of Semi Pro as a result of a hospital appointment. I became a little unsettled on arrival at the cinema when I asked whether I was too late to catch the film and the kid at the box office immediately grabbed his walkie-talkie and said “You haven’t cancelled the Semi Pro screening at five yet have you?” to which the voice on the other end said “On my way to doing it now!” and the kid said “Don’t! We’ve got one going in!”
That’s right. I was the only person at the entire screening. On “Cheap Night”. This genuinely confused the hell out of me. If Mr Woodcock can sell out on three screens in this very same cinema (worrying as that is!) then how the hell can a new Will Ferrell flick only have yours truly turning out for it. After the film I approached the manager and asked him, just out of curiosity, how many tickets he’d sold for Semi Pro today. The result? Over the course of three screenings held that day they’d sold one ticket. To me!
Then he told me that Untraceable, released the same day as Semi Pro, had sold out on 80% of its screenings since the day it came out. What the hell is going on? Have I wigged out and woke up in an alternative reality? What’s the world coming to when a bog-standard potboiler can outsell (and then some) a new comedy from the guy who was fantastic as an overgrown elf, crashed weddings superbly and stole my heart with a subtle comedic turn in Stranger Than Fiction.
The simple, unarguable truth is that Semi Pro is a likeable enough movie. It’s just not a funny one. Hell, flaws and all, I’m still going to hit it with ‘three popcorns’ because of this aforementioned likeability factor but for a comedy of this “class” to only illicit a couple of minor guffaws it’s almost criminal. And for only one of said “guffaws” to be drawn out by Ferrell then something is up.
Ferrell’s performance is a weird one to take stock of. He’s both unbelievably lazy one minute, drawing upon characteristics that have worked well for him in the past, and then wildly inventive the next to the point of being outright bizarre. I bow my head in reluctant shame as I say this but – whisper it – Kristina could be right. That patented hilarity of Ferrell’s could well be waning! In support, Woody Harrelson is good (he’s very rarely bad in a movie anyway!) but too laconic and uncharismatic and Andre Benjamin is wooden and uninteresting.
The second string comedy players don’t fair much better – Will Arnett doing the “bastard” signature character is fitfully amusing but growing real old real fast. Andy Richter finds himself funny, which is always nice I suppose but I just wish I did. Rob Corrdry does his best with a bit of a weird role and the makers should have been brave enough to develop his character a bit more. The rest are so short on screen time that they’re going to be equally short in getting mentioned.
The film is so self indulgent though that it almost works against itself. I found the film immensely likeable which, as I said, is quite strange for a comedy that didn’t really make me laugh but it’s a hell of a frustrating experience I will admit. Scenes that should bring the house down (it’d have to be one hell of a small house, admittedly, seeing as I was the only fucker in the audience!) came across as arrogantly filmed in a self-indulgent manner where all involved “knew” they were hilarious so we “should” too. The poker game scene with the unloaded (but loaded) gun is one such example.
Semi Pro is an entertaining flick yet a weird beast, so to speak. I can only speak for myself but it’s a comedy devoid of stellar comedic moments, with more performances that don’t work then do and it’s lazily plotted to the point of dragging out the “one last big game” finale in desperation, but you still don’t come out hating it. In fact you bizarrely come out feeling “entertained” but not quite remembering or understanding how. There’s no gags to tell your friends about or highlights to build some word-of-mouth around. But you don’t hate on the flick either. Weird!
I’ve got to say though, as HUGE a fan of Will Ferrell as I am, the guy has seriously got to up his game now. He just about pulled off Blades of Glory but more flicks thrown out like this and he’s going to junk his position of “Comedy God” sooner then he’d like to.
Arizona Landscaping - Internet Marketing - Debt Consolidation - Renegade Motorhomes
3 Responses to “[MOVIE REVIEW] SEMI-PRO”
Told you! Told you! Told you!
God, today is Kristina’s Vindication Day!!! Hell yeah!
Anchorman was genius, blades of glory made me laugh, kicking and screaming was a poor effort, didn’t think i’d say it as i love ferrell as much as you but maybe he is losing his touch
i had no urge to go and see semi pro and i still haven’t this is a sad day! Hopefully he has something in the pipeline that’ll win me back over say…..anchorman 2!!!!
Trackbacks
What's Your Opinion?