Film

Semi-Pro

Name: Semi-Pro
Genre: Comedy
Released: 2008
Cast: Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, André 3000, Maura Tierney, Andy Daly

Comedy
Light-hearted

Will Ferrell plays a one-hit disco wonder turned team owner-coach-power-forward, desperately trying to keep his terrible ABA franchise afloat before a league merger renders them extinct. It's loud, dumb, gleefully profane, and stuffed with bear wrestling and half-court giveaways. Best enjoyed by people who like Ferrell at his most unhinged and don't need their sports comedies to have much basketball in them.

TMDb rating

2.8

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love mockumentary-style sports comedy where the joke is a vain, oblivious showman who believes every bad decision is genius, and you enjoy the sweet loser-team underdog arc of Will Ferrell's earlier work.

Skip it if you want sharp, fast-cutting gags on every beat, since this one lets its scenes breathe, runs on awkward silences, and leans on warmth more than punchlines.

What it asks of you: Ninety-one minutes of loose, ambling scenes that linger on small moments of ego and embarrassment, so settle in for a gentle wobble rather than a constant barrage of jokes.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy2004

Same Ferrell-as-oblivious-egomaniac engine, same 70s wardrobe, same willingness to let scenes run wild until they become quotable forever. If you laughed at Jackie Moon's confidence, this is its purest form.

But You've already seen it a dozen times and can recite it, which somewhat defeats the point of watching it again.

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy poster

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby2006

Ferrell's other great sports vehicle, same producers and same rhythm of absurd machismo colliding with real vulnerability underneath the shouting. Slightly sharper structure than Semi-Pro, with a better villain.

But NASCAR culture and racing jokes may land less if you have zero interest in cars going fast in a circle.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby poster

DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story2004

A ragtag team of misfits fighting to survive against a bigger, better-funded outfit, told with the same commitment to stupid bits and a scene-stealing supporting cast. Pure comfort-food underdog comedy.

But The gym-bro satire is broader and less character-driven than Semi-Pro; some jokes have aged in an unflattering way.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Semi-Pro

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Slap Shot1977

Same premise decades earlier — a scrappy, doomed minor-league team saving itself through showmanship and violence — and Semi-Pro is openly working in its shadow.

Paul Newman leads a minor-league hockey team about to be folded, fighting back with dirty tricks, dirtier language, and a showman's instinct for putting on a spectacle — Jackie Moon's true spiritual ancestor.

But It's meaner and more cynical than Semi-Pro, with 70s-era crudeness that's rougher around the edges than modern comedy.

Major League1989

The granddaddy of the terrible-team-fighting-for-survival comedy, funnier and tighter than most of its imitators, with a cast of ringers who actually feel like teammates by the end.

But It's a baseball movie through and through, and the 80s sports-movie pacing is slower than the internet-brain comedy you're used to.

Blades of Glory2007

Ferrell and Arnett again, this time as feuding figure skaters, delivering the same swagger-and-humiliation formula in sequins instead of tube socks. Genuinely one of the funnier premises Ferrell ever committed to.

But The figure-skating satire is a bit one-note stretched across a full runtime, and it leans harder into gross-out than sports comedy.

Kingpin1996

The Farrelly brothers' bowling comedy has the same DNA — a disgraced showman trying to claw back relevance through an unglamorous sport, with jokes this filthy and a heart this soft.

But Woody Harrelson's here too, but the tone swings further into slapstick and prosthetic-gag territory than Semi-Pro ever does.

The Benchwarmers2006

Lower-budget, dumber, and unapologetic about it — a ragtag team of adult misfits taking on Little League bullies, with the same shameless commitment to a joke long after it should've stopped.

But It's genuinely a lesser film; the jokes are broader and the cast doesn't have Semi-Pro's comic bench depth.

The Longest Yard2005

Prisoners against guards, a team assembled from nothing, and the same structure of a big game standing in for redemption. Adam Sandler's version has plenty of the same crude charm.

But It's a remake of a much better 1974 film, and the humour is coarser with less of Semi-Pro's oddball specificity.

Necessary Roughness1991

A forgotten underdog-football comedy about a disgraced college team rebuilt from walk-ons and has-beens, with the same warmth toward its losers and the same faith that scrappiness beats talent.

But It's dated, gentle, and much less anarchic — closer to a family sports movie than the raunch Semi-Pro fans might expect.

The Battered Bastards of Baseball2014

Semi-Pro's fictional showman-owner and folding franchise are basically a comic exaggeration of this real one — same era, same desperation, same flair for spectacle.

A documentary about the real Portland Mavericks, an independent minor-league team owned by a Hollywood actor who ran it like a circus and fielded misfits nobody else wanted. It's the true story hiding inside every Jackie Moon joke.

But There's no punchline pacing here — it's a talking-heads documentary, and the laughs are incidental, not engineered.

The Battered Bastards of Baseball poster

Space Jam1996

Strip out the swearing and you've got the same skeleton: a doomed team, a loudmouth hustler at its center, and a big game that decides whether the franchise survives.

A struggling basketball team fighting to avoid being wiped out, led by a manic promoter-type hustling every angle to keep them alive — just with Bugs Bunny instead of Will Ferrell and cartoon slapstick instead of profanity.

But It's a kids' film built around Michael Jordan nostalgia, with none of the raunch or grown-up humour Semi-Pro trades in.