New Ferrell movie a big disappointment
Christopher Petterson
Issue date: 3/19/08 Section: Opinion
Will Ferrell has another wacky movie out. This is usually time for celebration between 18-24 year-old males. I mean, with a track record like Old School, Anchorman, Elf, and Talladega Nights (which is not, ironically, the official movie of NASCAR; that honor belongs to Jumper, a movie about as entertaining as any NASCAR event), Ferrell has created something of a comedy empire, and so beloved are his films that we are willing to overlook mistakes such as Kicking & Screaming and Bewitched.
So here comes our lord of lowbrow humor with this latest picture: Ferrell plays Jackie Moon, owner-player-coach of the ABA basketball league's Flint Tropics (that's Flint, Michigan) who attempts to have his team merged into the NBA by finishing in at least fourth place. This is easier said than done, because the Flint Tropics are the worst team in the ABA.
Does hilarity ensue? All I know is that for the first quarter of the film, hilarity does NOT ensue. Why am I only sure about the first fourth of the movie?
Because I walked out.
I walked out of Semi-Pro. I haven't walked out of a movie since "White Chicks," and I didn't even watch it in theaters-I was at a friend's house and just left; I still have yet to return there.
So I walked out of a movie. And not just any movie: a Will Ferrell movie. Why? When one watches one of Ferrell's films, one expects a certain level of quality. Now, of course I'm not talking Coen Bros. quality, but more accurately, one expects to laugh a certain amount of times by the 30-minute mark. And Semi-Pro was not delivering. Seriously, it was really, really not delivering. By the time I walked out about 45 minutes into the movie, I had really truly laughed out loud only once, and it was right in the beginning during the opening credits, when you see a newspaper headline that reads "Dime Beer Night Turns Ugly."
Not just the lack of jokes, but the absence of even a mildly interesting plot really got to me. Before I left I realized that I wasn't even paying attention anymore. Some underdeveloped sub-plot involving Woody Harrelson was going on and it hit me that I didn't even catch why his character was in the film.
The astronomical disappointment I felt after this ordeal lends credence to a theory I developed during Kicking & Screaming and it is this: Will Ferrell cannot carry a movie on his own. Yes, we loved him in Anchorman and Old School, because those movies had such strong, well-rounded casts overall that Ferrell just shined like a hilarious diamond. But imagine a movie that's only about Frank the Tank. The jokes would get old really, really quickly. And the supporting cast of Semi-Pro was really hit-and-miss. Will Arnett and Andre Benjamin were enjoyable to watch, but they are exceptions to an otherwise forgettable supporting cast.
It pains me to say it, but Will Ferrell really let me down this time. I seriously laughed more during his Jackie Moon Bud Light commercials than this movie. I can only hope that his next movie, Step Brothers-which reunites Ferrell with John C. Reilly and "Anchorman" director Adam McKay-is a return to form.
So here comes our lord of lowbrow humor with this latest picture: Ferrell plays Jackie Moon, owner-player-coach of the ABA basketball league's Flint Tropics (that's Flint, Michigan) who attempts to have his team merged into the NBA by finishing in at least fourth place. This is easier said than done, because the Flint Tropics are the worst team in the ABA.
Does hilarity ensue? All I know is that for the first quarter of the film, hilarity does NOT ensue. Why am I only sure about the first fourth of the movie?
Because I walked out.
I walked out of Semi-Pro. I haven't walked out of a movie since "White Chicks," and I didn't even watch it in theaters-I was at a friend's house and just left; I still have yet to return there.
So I walked out of a movie. And not just any movie: a Will Ferrell movie. Why? When one watches one of Ferrell's films, one expects a certain level of quality. Now, of course I'm not talking Coen Bros. quality, but more accurately, one expects to laugh a certain amount of times by the 30-minute mark. And Semi-Pro was not delivering. Seriously, it was really, really not delivering. By the time I walked out about 45 minutes into the movie, I had really truly laughed out loud only once, and it was right in the beginning during the opening credits, when you see a newspaper headline that reads "Dime Beer Night Turns Ugly."
Not just the lack of jokes, but the absence of even a mildly interesting plot really got to me. Before I left I realized that I wasn't even paying attention anymore. Some underdeveloped sub-plot involving Woody Harrelson was going on and it hit me that I didn't even catch why his character was in the film.
The astronomical disappointment I felt after this ordeal lends credence to a theory I developed during Kicking & Screaming and it is this: Will Ferrell cannot carry a movie on his own. Yes, we loved him in Anchorman and Old School, because those movies had such strong, well-rounded casts overall that Ferrell just shined like a hilarious diamond. But imagine a movie that's only about Frank the Tank. The jokes would get old really, really quickly. And the supporting cast of Semi-Pro was really hit-and-miss. Will Arnett and Andre Benjamin were enjoyable to watch, but they are exceptions to an otherwise forgettable supporting cast.
It pains me to say it, but Will Ferrell really let me down this time. I seriously laughed more during his Jackie Moon Bud Light commercials than this movie. I can only hope that his next movie, Step Brothers-which reunites Ferrell with John C. Reilly and "Anchorman" director Adam McKay-is a return to form.
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