Hey folks. Capone in Chicago here.

As much as I'd love to run up and down the block singing the praises of Will Ferrell's latest sports-related send-up (after TALLADEGA NIGHTS and BLADES OF GLORY), I'm not quite there. As much as I'd relish the opportunity to tell you that Ferrell once again setting up shop in the 1970s (as he did so beautifully in ANCHORMAN) is a triumphant beyond all measure, I can't. What I can say is that Ferrell is back in the hands of his OLD SCHOOL screenwriter in an R-rated comedy that's a mixed bag that has just enough laughs to keep you smiling but not enough to rank SEMI-PRO among your favorite Ferrell comedies.

Ferrell plays Jackie Moon, an American Basketball Association player and owner. A few years before the 1976 timeframe of the film, Jackie had a one-hit wonder, a Barry White-style sex groove called "Love Me Sexy," and the film wisely opens with the song to set its goofy tone. Some of the movie's funniest bits involve the marketing extremes the dying league went through just to get a few hundred fans in the stands. Although the team that Moon plays for—the Flint, Michigan Tropics—was not a real team, the movie does exist in the real world of the ABA, and when the word comes down that the league will be merging with the NBA, taking on four ABA teams under its auspices, Moon proposes that the teams with the four best records make the cut. Considering that the Tropics are far and away the worst team in the league, such a proposal doesn't really seem to work in his favor. Using classic sports movie methods (and montages), Moon whips his players into shape, hires a bad-apple veteran player (Woody Harrelson) to join the ranks, and rejuvenates the Tropics into real contenders.

How could it not be funny to see Ferrell in illegally tight shorts and a massive afro held together with a headband? His neckerchief collection belongs in a museum. And Ferrell truly can't help but be some amount of funny regardless of the script. But with this particular script, the laugh overload just isn't there. SEMI-PRO barely grazes the humor level of a BLADES OF GLORY, which I actually liked, and while I would certainly say to all diehard Ferrell fans that you won't have any trouble mustering smiles for this material, it doesn't feel like his strongest stuff with frequent partner in crime Adam McKay. Some of the supporting players here (including Harrelson, Andre Benjamin, Will Arnett, Andy Richter and the bizarre Jackie Earle Haley) are very good. I especially liked seeing Harrelson back on the court (after WHITE MEN CAN'T JUMP); his presence here certainly elevates the proceedings and it's good to see him do pure comedy again. But the film misfired just slightly more than it connected for me. It's still better than 75 percent of what I saw all of last year, but that may not say much. For me, SEMI-PRO is a perfect placeholder until Ferrell's next film--STEP BROTHERS with John C. Reilly, directed by McKay--coming out this summer, but I doubt I'll think much of this one between now and then.

Capone