Ferrell scores with winning Semi-Pro

Ferrell scores with winning Semi-Pro

by Sara Michelle Fetters - SGN Contributing Writer Semi-Pro Opening February 29 Let's be honest. Will Ferrell has made a career making the exact same movie over and over and over again. Elf really isn't all that different then Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy which is an extremely close sequined, ice skating relative to Blades of Glory which might as well just be the second NASCAR kissing cousin to Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. More or less, these are all the same pictures. Some are toned down a little in order to get a broader family audience, sure, but the central character in these are all the same, Ferrell portraying a seemingly never-ending cavalcade of dimwitted nincompoops obsessed with their own individual person almost to the disastrous detriment of everyone around them seemingly each and every time out (Stranger than Fiction notwithstanding). And yet two things about this trend are a bit unusual. The first is that audiences don't seem to have picked up on it yet, each one of these attaining far greater box office success then they probably deserved. The second is that, critical objectivity be damned, they actually seem to be getting better, Ferrell and company finding ways to make people laugh even when they know they probably shouldn't. It then figures that the funnyman's latest Semi-Pro might just be his best yet. In point of fact, this is the first one I can honestly say I enjoyed beginning to end with almost no reservations, the crudely hilarious saga of an ABA basketball team's final season about as deliciously foul and profane as R-rated comedy gets. It is as if someone took an SNL skit, stretched it out to 90 minutes, and then had the gall to make it funny, and by the time it was over I almost had to slap myself because I was still in shock I'd enjoyed myself as much as I actually did. For me, this is quite an admission. I hated Elf, loathed it with every fiber of my being. Anchorman wasn't much better, while most of my kudos thrown at the strictly okay Talladega Nights had more to with costars John C. Reilly and Sasha Baron Cohen then they did with Ferrell himself. Then came Blades of Glory and I had to sort of reassess. While the movie wasn't perfect, it certainly did offer plenty of laughs, and for anyone even remotely familiar with the world of professional figure skating, what filmmakers created was so spot-on it was borderline impossible not to be impressed. And now comes Semi-Pro and all I can really say is that it works, sometimes blissfully. There are moments of random scattershot humor that almost don't seem as if they should ever belong inside the world in which Ferrell, freshman director Kent Alterman and writer Scot Armstrong (Old School) have created. Then, with a whimsical suddenness that's both startling and surreal, the trio pulls it together and, like Mel Brooks in his prime, craft a comedy where you can't wait to discover what in the Sam Hill is going to happen next. Granted, comparing this to classics like Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles or The Producers is probably pushing it, yet that should also tell you just how far Ferrell has come. This movie fearlessly pushes buttons and boundaries but never does so in a way that feels insulting or trite, and like all the best comedies it knows when to say goodbye in order not to wear out its welcome. This thing is a downright impressive hoot, and if you had ever asked me if I'd be saying such a thing about a movie starring Will Ferrell I'd have laughed right in your face and probably called you a & well, no, I wouldn't have called you that, but I'm sure you still get my drift all the same. So that's really all there is to say. I'd give you a plot synopsis, but really, what's the point? Just go, have a good time, laugh, giggle, snicker, maybe even choke up some popcorn. Costars Woody Harrelson, André Benjamin, Maura Tierney, Will Arnett, Andy Richter, David Koechner, Rob Corddry and especially Academy Award-nominee Jackie Earle Haley are all pretty darn fantastic, and just wait until you see the heavenly surprise guest portraying Ferrell's angelic mother. It's all enough to make a person believe the comedian is on to something, Semi-Pro a trey from the left side corner I emphatically wasn't expecting.