Jackie Moon (Will Ferrell) is the flamboyant owner/coach/manager of the Flint Michigan Tropics, an ABA basketball team. He dreams big, but is living damned small. When the ABA is going to merge with the NBA the Tropics days will be over, until Jackie manages to work a deal that would see the top 4 teams join the NBA. All the bottom place Tropics have to do is make it there. And with the help of bad boy Monix (Woody Harrelson) they just might do it.
As you can see from the description above, we’re in generic sports movie or sports comedy territory. Some losers have to become winners for amazing thing x to happen. Thankfully this isn’t completely generic though, but it does have a montage. You have to have a montage. Even Rocky had a montage.
Will Ferrell is hit or miss for me, as you could tell from the Step Brothers review. This was a hit though. His movies work well when they’re outlandish, but not too extreme. He also plays well in the 70’s and when his characters can be flamboyant. Anchorman and Blades of Glory have proven that.
This is kind of Blades of Glory without the skates.
While I hardly pissed myself laughing through this, I did laugh many a time and I was entertained. It’s not a full on insane comedy like Baseketball, but it does feature the two outlandish commentators which are an easy way to get some great laughs in these things.
Surrounding Ferrell is a great supporting cast, featuring many of the usual faces for his films. A couple of guys from the Daily Show pop up in little roles, and half of the guys from Anchorman etc are here too in roles of one size or another.
Woody is more or less the straight man here, given a more serious storyline with him trying to get back with an ex and redeem himself for a broken career, the highest achievement of which was riding the bench to a championship ring. He’s a hot head, but he does fire off any insane one liners. We all know that Woody can be funny as hell from his Cheers days, but he’s a solid anchor here that gives weight to the sports story.
This was a top tier Ferrell movie for me. Not his craziest, far from serious, well worth a look. The main story is surprisingly refreshing, though still close to the generic, and the side tales are funny in their own right.
Next up: Lifeboat
No comments:
Post a Comment