Let's get tropical

Semi-Pro (2008)

Rated: UR

Runtime: 98 minutes

Stars: Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, André Benjamin

Director: Kent Alterman

Plot: Jackie Moon (Will Ferrell) is a one-hit wonder in the music world and current owner/coach/power forward for the Flint Michigan Tropics of the ABA. Ed Monix (Woody Harrelson) is a former bench warmer for the Boston Celtics but owns a championship ring and is traded to the Tropics for a washing machine. Clarence (André Benjamin), aka “Coffee Black”, “Downtown Funky Stuff Malone”, and “Sugar Dunkerton”, is a star guard for the Tropics and has dreams of playing in the NBA. There is going to be a merger soon between the ABA and the NBA, so the Tropics do all they can to be one of the four ABA teams to survive the cut.

Rating—out of 5 basketballs: 2 ½ basketballs. 1 for a story that could have happened, 1 for the funky music, and ½ for a movie that I kind of recommend.

Tournament seed: 5—9—movie is favored to win its first game in the tournament and has a good chance to win a second game. But depending on the team it is matched up against, could be an early upset. Be sure to do your research before choosing.

A movie that could have been so much better, but was funny enough for me to at least recommend giving a shot. Will Ferrell was pretty funny and there were plenty of things that made me laugh; I just don’t think I will remember them in two weeks. Andy Richter, Will Arnett, and Kristen Wiig played small roles that delivered big chuckles, and Jackie Moon’s hit single “Love Me Sexy” is worth downloading to your iPod. The team is pretty believable in their basketball abilities and they have cool names like Bee Bee, Scootsie, and Twiggy. The team starts to turn things around when Monix becomes the new coach and they have their sweet “Tropics on a winning streak” montage, and Jackie Moon wrestles a bear, but the Tropics soon realize that all the hard work will not pay off … but that’s ok; they are happy just to finish 4^th in the league. But that won’t be easy; they must win their last game against the 1^st-place Spurs, who just acquired Clarence in a trade that will help him achieve his NBA dream. Jackie is fouled hard and knocked unconscious. Clarence walks off the Spurs’ bench to rejoin the Tropics and help his team win. Jackie dreams of his mom in heaven, and she shares with him the secret of the “alley-oop”, a play that nobody seems to have seen before and that causes radio announcers to get erections. After a ferocious comeback, the Tropics trail by 2 and they run “The Puke”, a play Monix made the team practice until they puked so they would remember how to execute it in an end-of-the-game situation. Jackie gets fouled, converts the first free throw “granny style”, but misses the second … but in comes Monix for the put-back at the buzzer an the Tropics win by 1! Amidst the post-game celebration we learn that Jackie (almost) gets a job in the NBA as a promoter, Monix gets his old girlfriend back, and Clarence will still get his shot in the NBA with the Spurs.

There was a memorable scene that will not be amongst the things I forget. The Tropics win a game in which they score 126 points; resulting in all the fans attending the game winning a prize. Jackie tries to prevent this from happening, but when it does it causes Father Pat, the referee, to remind him:

Father Pat: “Corndogs Jackie, corndogs for all these people.”