SEMI-PRO (2008). 0 stars. Starring Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, Andre Benjamin, Maura Tierney, Andrew Daly, Will Arnett, David Koechner, Matt Walsh and Jackie Earle Haley. Written by Scot Armstrong. Directed by Kent Alterman. Rated: R. Running time: Approx: 85 mins.


With 10 months to go in the year I doubt that you will see another movie as worthless as Semi-Pro.

And what an apt title for a movie that looks like it was untouched by professional filmmakers.

Semi-Pro is rotten enough to make me nostalgic for Nacho Libre.

What is most extraordinary about Semi-Pro is that someone actually provided money to produce it. The funding probably came from someone who did not %u2014 or could not %u2014 read the script.

It would not be surprising if sports industry lobbyists descended on Washington demanding that Congress pass a measure outlawing Will Ferrell from starring in any more athletic-themed movies. Truth in advertising forbids that his efforts be classified as comedies.

Semi-Pro shows total contempt and disdain for its audience.

The comedy is lower than lowbrow, it is stupid and inane.

It is questionable whether you can even classify Semi-Pro as a movie. Sure, it is on celluloid, but it lacks structure, coherence and any real point.

It is like the ingredients of a recipe gone wrong tossed out with no thought given to where it would land.

Unfortunately, it seems to be in a multiplex near you.

Ferrell, unfortunately, has become like the needle on an old phonograph player stuck in the same groove %u2014 he keeps repeating himself over and over.

As in Talladega Nights and Blades of Glory, he plays a self-centered, thickheaded, totally unaware jock with the simple-minded believe that his talents are greater than they actually are.

In this latest outing, he is Jackie Moon, owner, coach and power forward of the Flint Tropics of the old American Basketball Association.

Learning that the league is folding and that four teams will be absorbed into the NBA, he concocts various stunts to make sure his team is one of the four.

His promotions and gimmicks are so lame and childish, that it's hard to believe anyone would take him or his team seriously.

The real shame of Semi-Pro is that it wastes the talents of some good people, specifically Andre Benjamin, Woody Harrelson and ER's Maura Tierney, who actually looks embarrassed that she has to show her face in this junk.

The movie is lazy, insulting and pathetically inept. The quicker it is tossed on the cinematic junk heap of oblivion the better.

Bob Bloom is the film critic and DVD reviewer at the Journal & Courier in Lafayette, Ind.. and for the Gannett News Service. He can be reached by e-mail at bbloom@journalandcourier.com or at bloomjc@yahoo.com. Bloom's reviews also can be found at the Journal & Courier Web site: www.jconline.com
Other reviews by Bloom can be found at the Rottentomatoes Web site: www.rottentomatoes.com.