MOVIE REVIEW - Semi Pro

Will Farrell's new movie is called Semi-Pro and It could not be more aptly named. Semi Pro would indicate part professional, mixed with part amateur status...well that's Semi-Pro.

It's another sports parody for Farrell and his traveling sports movie troupe. It's the story of the waning days of the old American Basketball Association (ABA.) Farrell plays a one-hit wonder 70's soul singer whose only big song gives him wealth enough to buy the fictional Flint Tropics ABA franchise. The year is 1976, and the ABA is folding and four teams are going to be absorbed by the NBA, the rest will be disbanded. Surviving are the Spurs, Nuggets, Nets, and Pacers. That part is not fictional.

Farrell tries to save the Tropics with hopes of being chosen by the NBA in the merger, and let the hi-jinx begin. I'm not sure who is supposed to get the joke here. Not many of Will Farrell's fans can remember the old ABA, or even know that it existed. The parody that worked so well in Talledega Nights, and Blades of Glory falls flat on it face here. The ABA was a flashy, above the rim, self promoting, and colorful league that had to do what it could to survive. But unless you're around 45 or over, you don't remember the ABA at all. Farrell's fans aren't. And that's the real trouble here. Jokes that no one understand.

Mix in a joke no one gets, with Farrell's old and tired act, and some really bad language that's prevalent for two hours, and this is a disaster. The language, dialogue, and story line is so awful in this flick you watch almost with amazement that's this is all they can come up with. (Man bring back the writers strike!) He even pulls Woody Harrelson along with him for this ride in to the wall, and for some reason Maura Tierny from ER is in this movie, and if you ask me why, I have no idea why her character is even in this train wreck. One positive, Semi-Pro does have a snappy musical soundtrack with great songs from the era. I wouldn't mind owning that CD myself.

Semi-Pro is ghastly. It's not funny, and it even looks tired. With no new ideas, it looks like real work for the actors to get through this thing. It was work to watch it too. No real laughs here. A chuckle or two, a smile from time to time, but mostly you're just praying for the closing credits.