Bouncing balls!
Jackie Moon is an owner, a promoter and a basketball player for the Flint Tropics. His problem? He’s in the ABA, the NBA is picking up steam and there’s not much left over for his financially suffering team. He can’t seem to get fans in the stands and the contests that he runs, which includes free corn-dog night, are putting him way in the hole. On top of all of this, his musical career started and stopped with a song he can’t seem to get beyond, Love Me Sexy. When opportunity comes knocking, the NBA, and he finds himself needing to get at least into fourth place in the ABA to have a shot at his team merging into the NBA, Moon steps up. First he trades a washing machine for an ABA Kentucky Kernel named Monix. Monix not only is an older player with some major basketball knowledge to bring the Tropics to a new level, but he also has what no one else does on the team, an NBA championship. With Moon’s smooth moves off the court and Monix’s basketball brains on the court, the team has a chance to pull off the unthinkable… making it to the NBA.
The story is simple, the plot points are predictable, but much like Blades of Glory Ferrell drives the movie pretty darn well. He shines in his reactions, he delivers his lines well, in some moments it’s a clueless type of delivery, and he completely feeds off his cast members. There are two in particular that deserve kudos as well. Woody Harrelson is great as the aging basketball guru, Monix. He seems to have embraced that role quite well. He really looks as if his knees are killing, which may not be too far from the truth. Aside from Harrelson, Andre’ Benjamin (Andre’ 3000) did great. I never knew he had acting ability. He plays Clarence ‘Coffee’ Black superbly, the best basketball player on the team. I didn’t even know he was the same person who sang ‘Hey Ya!’, but kudos to him for not making his lines sound like… well… lines (see Ice Cube for details).
As for the movie as whole, it was a decent comedy. There’s plenty of childish moments, such as Moon’s ABA meeting and the announcement of the NBA merger, but it’s not terrible. I will say that the movie did take one bit of comedy a little over the edge. Monix’s return to Flint has to do with a girl named Lynn (old girlfriend), who is happily married. Eventually Lynn and Monix hook-up, the kicker is that Lynn’s husband is a huge fan of Monix. When he catches Lynn and Monix going at it…. he joins them…. silently. When There are so few basketball comedies out there that it was refreshing to see an ABA-70’s take on it. It’s no Talladega Nights or Old-School, but it certainly will make a Saturday night movie for a group of people looking to laugh their arses off.
Loving Me Sexy… unrated… on Blu-ray
The unrated Blu-ray version of this film is good. I think that there’s enough HD love here, especially with the silent celebration for the 70’s, to make it look great. The sound in the film is also well-done, but what would you else would you expect from a Blu-ray? Now, the Unrated tag on this movie is confusing. It didn’t seem overly bad, except for the Lynn/Monix/Husband thing, but I’m not quite sure what the difference was, but I’ll watch it again. Regardless, it looks and sounds good.
Here’s what you get on the special features side of Semi-Pro:
– Both original and unrated versions of the film
– Deleted / Alternate Scenes
– Improv
– “Love Me Sexy” – The Story Behind the One Hit Wonder
– Re-creating the American Basketball Association
– 4 Days in Flint
– The Man Behind Semi-Pro
– “Love me Sexy” Music Video
– “Flint Tropics Hot Talk with Dick Pepperfield
– Trailers
– Super Agility Training Interactive Game
Excellent features, just as goofy as the movie itself and very much slightly deeper. You won’t be disappointed with what you get on the second disc. Not one bit at all.
Just keep dribbling
The movie is good, no doubt about that, but again this isn’t the best Will Ferrell comedy that’s out. Still, enjoy the ride, it’s still good, especially with what you get on Blu-ray (and the fact that it’s on Blu-ray helps as well). So keep dribbling, alley oop this and just keep driving.