Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.

Comedies, more than any other genre, are test screened and test screened and test screened, and some producers know exactly how to make the most of that process.

Today, Ace Venturtle has one and a half reviews for you. The first is yet another Will Ferrell sports comedy, and the second is yet another Judd Apatow produced comedy. For some people, just knowing that means they won’t give these films a fair shake, but if you’re still interested (and I am), then read on:

Venturtle back. Today chiming in with my two cents on Will Farrell Sports Comedy Movie #4, SEMI-PRO.

Now it’s only fair to warn that my friends and I walked into this one fairly predisposed to not liking it. I had low expectations. Even though Will Farrell’s got a gift for comedy, another sports movie ain’t no stretch, and he seems to be peaking in terms of his range. But that’s not my only bias. I’m actually in this movie. See, somewhere along the way, this production went low on cash, and put some website, beinamovie.com in charge of getting as many people off the street as they could to fill the stands as extras. So for a few mere seconds, I got to see myself on the big screen, albeit a bit out of focus, buried in the stands. It’s like buying a star for 50 bucks. No one will ever know when they see it, except you. That said, I didn’t see anything all that funny happen during my time on set, so I expected this to fall flat.

And I was fucking shit wrong. This is Farrell’s funniest movie since Anchorman. Fuck Balls of Fury. Talladega made me laugh, but not like this. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that it’s rated R. Because when you give Farrell the free reign to say whatever the fuck he wants, like say in, I don’t know… Old School, or his Weddding Crashers bit, wouldn’t you know it? He god damn delivers! When Farrell screams, “You are a fucking cocksucker!,” how can you not laugh? Farrell plays Jackie Moon, the owner, announcer, manager, coach, and player of the little known Flint, Michigan Tropics. It’s also the last year of the ABA, which is about to merge with the NBA. And when that happens, only a few teams will be absorbed. So in order for the Tropics to live on, they’ve got to prove their worth with the remainder of the season, or they’re toast. They’ve got to do this not only by actually winning (the cliché of most sports flicks), but by improving their near-nonexistent attendance. This is crucial because it’s where a lot of the movie’s funniest scenes derive from. See, Jackie’s a promoter, and to entice people to come, he infuses every game with a display of entertainment that is just off the fucking wall. Imagine a half time show that’s a 3 round cage match between Will Farrell and a grizzly bear. When we filled out our questionnaires after the credits, I, nor did any of my friends, have the least difficulty in listing our funniest ten scenes.

Woody Harrelson does some fine work as Monix, who Jackie brings in to help lead the team to victory. Here’s the catch: Harrelson is pretty compelling, but not comically as you’d expect, but instead because Monix is a seriously fractured and bitter character. He’s warmed the bench all the way to his championship ring. Like he’s received the utmost validation for the work he was denied the chance to earn. He takes a lot of shit for it, especially from Clearance (Andre 3000), the Tropic’s star player.

A little too serious for screwball Farrell sports film? Yeah, that’s what caught me off guard too. Rather than simply play every locker room motivational speech for laughs, it treats them with sincerity, and absolutely succeeds in doing so. It’s a gift as much as a curse. It’s paying respect to the sports genre, which I don’t personally care for, and it’s screen time that could be allocated towards making this movie even funnier. I say no points off, because this movie is was hilarious and sufficiently quotable as is.

That’s also due to the fact that Farrell’s assisted by a shitload of funny little side characters and cameos who don’t waste a single frame of film not being funny. Honorable Mentions go to both Jackie Earle Haley and Mr. Rob Corddry. The latter having one scene in particular, which I pray to god they don’t cut, will shock you into submission. You’ll know when you see it, and it’s wonderfully disgustingly hilarious.

My only complaint is they could’ve done a lot more with Will Arnett. He’s got a few good lines, but in the back of my head I know he’s better than what he’s putting out.

One more thing…

There’s something else I need to air out, because I just can’t hold this in. Another in-depth review I want to write but can’t bring myself to doing so is for Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which I saw last week. The reason is because the cut I saw of this film was so obviously an extremely rough workprint, that I think it’s not at all fair to go ahead and critique a film that’s in such an early stage of editing. It’s common knowledge that Apatow test screens his films extensively to fine-tune them to perfection, and for the first time ever, I really did believe the announcer when he said “You are the absolute first audience to see this movie.” I believed it because to my knowledge, this was still shooting! Shit, I mean I was reading set reports dated just a few
days before the screening. The movie began 15 minutes late, and that was so Judd Apatow could discreetly arrive to take his seat, diligently taking notes at what worked and what didn’t. As soon as the lights came back on, he slipped right out the back door. But I digress. The real question is was it or was it not good? The answer is, for a first cut, it was fucking phenomenal. Instead of a detailed review, I’ll just give you some scattered brief tidbits. Jason Segal really throws down the funny, as does the rest of the cast, notably Jonah Hill, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hadar, Paul Rudd, and Russell motherfuckin’ Brand. His character, Aldous Snow, is whacked out of his goddamn mind. Picture a loopy zen-minded Bono minus 20 years. I think Moriarty put it best in his set report: He’s “a fucking space alien.” Aside from that, Kristen Bell and Mila Kunis are both gorgeous, not that you need me to tell you that. It
naturally ran a little long, which is what a first cut is. Something I kept in mind was that the movie I saw may well be a totally different film than what’s released in theaters. A lot of improvisation goes into these movies, and that results in a lot of takes. Most of the dialogue Moriarty detailed wasn’t even in the version of the scene that I saw, even though the dynamic between the characters was exactly as he described, and was still hilarious. The important thing is that there’s more than enough funny in this package to result in another hit, which is exactly what this looks to be.

Stay cool,
Ace Venturtle