Semi-Pro (2008)
Average Rating: 4.5/10
Reviews Counted: 157
Fresh: 33 | Rotten: 124
Semi-Pro is an intermittently funny, half-hearted attempt at sports satire, and one of Will Ferrell's weaker cinematic efforts.
Average Rating: 4.9/10
Critic Reviews: 35
Fresh: 10 | Rotten: 25
Semi-Pro is an intermittently funny, half-hearted attempt at sports satire, and one of Will Ferrell's weaker cinematic efforts.
liked it
Average Rating: 2.9/5
User Ratings: 272,964
My Rating
Movie Info
The American Basketball Association is on the verge of collapse, and when a former NBA benchwarmer returns to his hometown of Flint, MI, to whip his former team into shape for the playoffs, redemption is just a free throw away in this period sports comedy starring Will Ferrell and Woody Harrelson. Penned by Old School scribe Scot Armstrong, Semi-Pro tells the tale of a 1970s-era basketball player who doesn't have much luck in the NBA, but vows to leave his mark on the sport by coaching the Flint
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Cast
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Will Ferrell
Jackie Moon -
Woody Harrelson
Ed Monix -
André Benjamin
Clarence "Downtown" Wit... -
Andrew Daly
Dick Pepperfield -
Will Arnett
Lou Redwood -
Andy Richter
Bobby Dee -
David Koechner
Commissioner -
Rob Corddry
Kyle -
Matt Walsh
Father Pat the Ref -
Jackie Earle Haley
Dukes -
Maura Tierney
Lynn -
Patti LaBelle
Jackie's Mom -
Tim Meadows
Cornelius -
DeRay Davis
Bee-Bee Ellis -
Jay Phillips
Scootsie Doubleday -
Josh Braaten
Twiggy Munson -
Peter Cornell
Vakidis -
Pat Kilbane
Petrelli -
Kristen Wiig
Bear Handler -
Jason Sudeikis
Nachos Fan -
Ed Helms
Turtleneck -
Brian Huskey
White Pants
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All Critics (160) | Top Critics (36) | Fresh (36) | Rotten (126) | DVD (16)
The semifunny Semi-Pro is amiable enough, but you never feel there's much at stake.
Top CriticJudging from this low-scoring sports comedy about the mystique of men with balls, Will Ferrell needs to call a time-out from belly baring to refocus his fan-favorite game of playing clueless male doofuses.
You take the Will Ferrell formula and you plug it in, but somehow it just feels kind of uninspired and flat.
There are some ludicrous sight gags and uniquely silly, if foul-mouthed, laughs. The movie falters when it tries to be serious. Fortunately, those moments are few.
You can't help but marvel, and laugh at, Ferrell's indefatigable enthusiasm and willingness to make a complete ass of himself.
I laughed from start to finish at its relentlessly, energetically profane absurdity and a cast crammed with funny actors in even the smallest roles.
Semi-Pro will likely leave its star with a sore throat and bruised pride but a bulging wallet nonetheless: it's possibly the first movie ever to be less funny than the products it advertises.
Semi-Pro isn't the most well-designed of comedies, it's far too disjointed without enough thought given to making it work as a whole, but there are enough genuinely funny moments, especially from upstart Daly, to make it worth a look.
Root-canal territory all the way
Will Ferrell's Semi-Pro is a dreadful comedy. It's lazy and slipshod.
No amount or combination of shame, absurdity and unflattering outfits seem to dint Ferrell's fierce commitment to character.
It isn't a good enough sports movie to please sports fans and it's not an outright funny enough movie to please Ferrell's fans.
In the end it's too simply all too familiar.
Semi-Pro offers nothing new.
You end up with a movie that is way too simple-minded for adults on an ABA nostalgia trip, and way too dirty for kids.
A lot of it is funny, but the problem is that it doesn't amount to much.
Unfortunately, the outrageousness lessens in the second half of the film, becoming your straight forward underdog movie.
Coming from someone that didn't like Ferrell's last few comedies, I can say that this is an improvement.
we don't really need any more of these movies
Audience Reviews for Semi-Pro
Super Reviewer
Super Reviewer
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- Jackie Moon: Everybody panic!
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- Jackie Moon: It's just like the Titanic but it's full of bears!
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- Jackie Moon: If you see a possum try to kill it okay, it's not a pet.
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- Jackie Moon: Everybody love everybody!
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