SEMI-PRO — ** — Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, Andre Benjamin; rated R (profanity, violence, vulgarity, sex, drugs, slurs, brief gore)
Appropriately enough, "Semi-Pro" lives up to half of its title. That would be the "semi" part.
This '70s-period sports comedy is only funny about half of the time and seems like an uneasy film hybrid. Half the time it's trying to be a Will Ferrell vehicle, and half the time it's trying to rip off of earlier, better movies such as "Slap Shot," "The Bad News Bears" and "The Longest Yard."
And as you'd expect, it feels a little half-hearted as a result.
Ferrell stars as Jackie Moon, the owner, coach and one of the star players for the spectacularly unsuccessful Flint (Mich.) Tropics basketball team in the American Basketball Association.
Jackie is busy thinking up new promotional gimmicks and doesn't seem too concerned about fielding a winning team.
But he has reason to reconsider his priorities when the league commissioner (David Koechner) announces that the league will fold at the end of the year. The ABA's top four teams will be "absorbed" into the bigger, better National Basketball Association, though, which gives Jackie a glimmer of hope.
So he trades to acquire a point guard, Ed Monix (Woody Harrelson), who's actually been on a championship team and who believes in things like scrimmaging and practices. And eventually, the rest of the team does respond to Ed's coaching.
First-time director Kent Alterman and screenwriter Scot Armstrong can't decide on a consistent tone.
To be fair, though, a couple of bits do get some big laughs, especially a scene in which Jackie plans to wrestle a bear. ("Saturday Night Live" performer Kristen Wiig nearly upstages Ferrell here.)
And Harrelson does have a strong sports movie pedigree, having been in "White Men Can't Jump." But he's a too-serious presence for a movie that settles for being likable and goofy.
Worse, he's often forced to rein in Ferrell, who's simply playing another variation on the doofus he portrayed in his earlier hits "Anchorman" and "Talladega Nights."
"Semi-Pro" is rated R for strong sexual language (profanity, crude slang and other suggestive talk), comic violence (sports brawling, rioting and animal wrestling), vulgar sexual humor, a brief sex scene, drug references, slurs based on disabilities, and brief gore. Running time: 91 minutes.
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com