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Average User Score: 6 (44 sources)

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Oceanic_815_

-1

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I can't believe that I actually enjoyed a Will Ferrell comedy, even though I did love Anchorman. Semi-Pro might not be as good as Anchorman, but this movie was really enjoyable and pretty downright funny. Will Ferrell is really good in this as...
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I can't believe that I actually enjoyed a Will Ferrell comedy, even though I did love Anchorman. Semi-Pro might not be as good as Anchorman, but this movie was really enjoyable and pretty downright funny. Will Ferrell is really good in this as Jackie Moon, a player, owner, and coach of an ABA basketball team, you remember those guys. When there is a chance to get into the NBA, Moon gets really excited and hires Ed Monix, played very well by Woody Harrelson. Monix teaches the team how to play real basketball and they soon become really good. The ending isn't predictable which I like. This could've taken the obvious road, which is put the team in the NBA, but the film stays mostly true to NBA history. Of course the movie is flawed but I really really enjoyed this, and I hope people won't be discouraged from seeing this because of some of Ferrell's failures, such as Blades of Glory. I went into this film whining and came out of it really happy. It won't be on any top ten lists at the end of the year, and you might forget about it come Oscar buzz, but all in all it's a way to kill two hours.

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Posted jul 14, 2008 12:02 pm pt

Spidey_1982

-1

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Not one of Will Ferrell's best movies, but it has its moments. Mostly a funny movie and I loved the 1976 setting and Funk music (the theme song is hilarious).

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Posted jul 5, 2008 3:18 am pt

BrookllynBoy94

-1

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I can't beleive that I actually enjoyed a Will Ferrell comedy, even though I did love Anchorman. Semi-Pro might not be as good as Anchorman, but this movie was really enjoyable and pretty downright funny. Will Ferrell is really good in this as...
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I can't beleive that I actually enjoyed a Will Ferrell comedy, even though I did love Anchorman. Semi-Pro might not be as good as Anchorman, but this movie was really enjoyable and pretty downright funny. Will Ferrell is really good in this as Jackie Moon, a player, owner, and coach of an ABA basketabll team, you remeber those guys. When there is a chance to get into the NBA, Moon gets really excited and hires Ed Monix, played very well by Woody Harrelson. Monix teaches the team how to play real basketball and they soon become really good. The ending isn't predictable which I like. This could've taken the obvious road, which is put the team in the NBA, but the film stays mostly true to NBA history. Ofcourse the movie is flawed but I really really enjoyed this, and I hope people won't be discouraged from seeing this because of some of Ferrell's failures, such as Blades of Glory. I went into this film whinig and came out of it really happy, I'm really surprised, but I actually enjoyed this film.

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Posted jun 21, 2008 12:18 pm pt

Vyce3

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Not Ferrell's worst but not his best either. The movie has some hilarious moments but it doesn't compare to Talladega's constant absurdity. Sometimes I felt that Semi-Pro was even trying to be a serious sport movie at times. Worth a rental.

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Posted jun 19, 2008 6:00 am pt

LB80

-1

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Definately not hilarious, but it works quite well as a generic sporting underdog story, with a light sense of humour, and the occasional laugh out loud moment.

Will Ferrell definately seems to be running out of steam when he comes...
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Definately not hilarious, but it works quite well as a generic sporting underdog story, with a light sense of humour, and the occasional laugh out loud moment.

Will Ferrell definately seems to be running out of steam when he comes to providing the humour for this film, but likeable performances from Woody Harrelson and Andre Benjamin just about help to keep this film above water

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Posted jun 16, 2008 6:13 pm pt

therockstop

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When you see a movie coming out that has Will Ferrell in it you should know what to expect (stupid comedy) and that what it was. I laughed several times throughout the movie as I like this kind of comedy. I thought the language was a little much...
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When you see a movie coming out that has Will Ferrell in it you should know what to expect (stupid comedy) and that what it was. I laughed several times throughout the movie as I like this kind of comedy. I thought the language was a little much but I overcame that. If you were looking for some great plot you would be dissapointed but you should know that this was not what the movie was about.

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Posted jun 8, 2008 1:41 am pt

The_Gnat_5000

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This was a decnetly funny movie, immediately after I saw it. The further I get away from the film, the more I start to realize, this is just another Will Ferrell film that is like so many of his others. The jokes were decent, but they've been...
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This was a decnetly funny movie, immediately after I saw it. The further I get away from the film, the more I start to realize, this is just another Will Ferrell film that is like so many of his others. The jokes were decent, but they've been done before, even the plot has been done before by Will Ferrell. Simply another average Ferrell film that we've all seen before.

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Posted apr 10, 2008 12:53 am pt

DarkManiaN_1979

-1

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Since I like Basketball and Will Ferrell I enjoyed this film. The plot is kinda tacked on and it gets predictable towards the end, but I still enjoyed some of the slap stick and one liners.

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Posted apr 9, 2008 5:26 pm pt

punisherwarzone

-1

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TO MUCH SWEARING AND IT IS HARDLY FUNNY WILL FERRELL GOOD ACTOR BUT THIS FLIM IS NOT ALL IT IS CRACKED UP TO BE. FERRELL HAD HOPES THAT IT WOULD DO GOOD BUT IT DID NOT ONLY THING FUNNY IN THIS FLIM IS THE HIPPIE AND FATHER PAT I ONLY THINK PAT WAS...
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TO MUCH SWEARING AND IT IS HARDLY FUNNY WILL FERRELL GOOD ACTOR BUT THIS FLIM IS NOT ALL IT IS CRACKED UP TO BE. FERRELL HAD HOPES THAT IT WOULD DO GOOD BUT IT DID NOT ONLY THING FUNNY IN THIS FLIM IS THE HIPPIE AND FATHER PAT I ONLY THINK PAT WAS FUNNY CAUSE MY PREIST NAME IS FATHER PAT BUT THIS FLIM IS A WAIST OF MY TIME AND MONEY HARLSON HAVING SEX MIGHT AS WELL CALL THIS SEMI PORN.

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Posted mar 27, 2008 8:59 am pt

raging_monkey

-1

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why is will ferrell still acting? he can't act and he's not funny.

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Posted mar 5, 2008 5:25 am pt

• [+] Baltimore Sun
  
  75
  Semi-Pro is so shabbily staged, shot and edited that it hardly ranks as a movie, much less a sports film, but hilarious people keep turning up in it.

  by Michael Sragow | Read Full Review »
• [+] Christian Science Monitor
  
  75
  None of Ferrell's movies have ever really done justice to the best of his "Saturday Night Live" work, but those of us who love his comedy have learned to take the good with the bad.

  by Peter Rainer | Read Full Review »
• [+] Premiere
  
  75
  Ultimately, we don't purchase tickets to Will Ferrell movies for their sweeping romantic storylines, but because he makes us laugh. And Semi-Pro offers plenty of reasons to do so.

  by Chris Willard | Read Full Review »
• [+] The New York Times
  
  70
  Semi-Pro finds the sweet spot between sports melodrama and parody, and hammers it for 90 diverting minutes.

  by Matt Zoller Seitz | Read Full Review »
• [+] Variety
  
  70
  Very much in the tradition of "Slap Shot," George Roy Hill's raucously funny and foul-mouthed 1977 laffer about the misadventures of a minor-league hockey team, Semi-Pro scores big laughs with the rowdy play-by-play of hard-luck hoopsters struggling for professional survival.

  by Joe Leydon | Read Full Review »
• [+] Boston Globe
  
  63
  The problem with Semi-Pro is that it keeps forgetting it's a parody of sports movies; the final scenes are supposed to be uplifting (sort of) but they're not fooling anyone. The film's much better when it just lets the guys gas and sass each other.

  by Ty Burr | Read Full Review »
• [+] USA Today
  
  63
  Definitely more than semi-funny.

  by Claudia Puig | Read Full Review »
• [+] Rolling Stone
  
  63
  Critics will score Semi-Pro on its missed shots. My guess is that audiences will do what they always do with Ferrell: remember when he killed them laughing.

  by Peter Travers | Read Full Review »
• [+] The Hollywood Reporter
  
  60
  The comedy is sloppy, crude and contains far too many misfires, but the film does capture the old ABA spirit in its ungainly struggles to wrestle laughs from seriously mediocre material.

  by Kirk Honeycutt | Read Full Review »
• [+] Village Voice
  
  60
  What at least distinguishes Semi-Pro from its predecessors (not only those starring Ferrell, but also such lesser lights as "Dodgeball" and "Balls of Fury") is that it's a slightly darker movie--one made for grown-ups, hence the R rating.

  by Robert Wilonsky | Read Full Review »
• [+] Los Angeles Times
  
  60
  Harrelson and Maura Tierney, who plays Monix's love interest, seem to be inhabiting a different, more interesting, movie, one that follows the familiar path of a has-been athlete seeking redemption at what looks like his last stop. The strange thing is that the subplot is so tangential to the rest of the movie that the scenes could be omitted with no one the wiser.

  by Kevin Crust | Read Full Review »
• [+] The Onion (A.V. Club)
  
  58
  Deserves credit for attempting something more emotional and dramatic than the typical Ferrell gagfest, but Harrelson and Benjamin's earnest subplots cost the film comic momentum and big laughs without adding much in return.

  by Nathan Rabin | Read Full Review »
• [+] ReelViews
  
  50
  Instead of a satire, they give us a tired, tedious victory-for-the-underdog story, and the unevenness of Ferrell's comedy makes it less appealing.

  by James Berardinelli | Read Full Review »
• [+] The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
  
  50
  Come to think of it, Ferrell is to the sports comedy what the Toronto Maple Leafs are to the hockey biz: Hard-core fans are sure to show up and find reasons to be amused. The rest of us can only hope for better days.

  by Rick Groen | Read Full Review »
• [+] TV Guide
  
  50
  The humor is mostly visual -- 70s relics like Pong, Shasta and men's platform shoes compete with the sight of Ferrell squeezed into tube socks and short shorts.

  by Ken Fox | Read Full Review »