Line #28 Film/SemiPro


1	[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_semipro_2891.jpg]]
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3	A 2008 sports-comedy, starring Creator/WillFerrell, Creator/WoodyHarrelson, and [[Music/{{OutKast}} André Benjamin.]]
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5	Jackie Moon, a OneHitWonder singer during the mid 1970s, is the owner/coach/player of the ABA's floundering Flint Tropics. Further problems arise, when the NBA and ABA announce a merger. The NBA want four teams from the ABA and the Tropics is not among them. With his team in danger of being dissolved, Jackie embarks on a publicity spree, to get into the playoffs, and save the Tropics.
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7	!!Tropes featured in this film.
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9	%%* AlternateHistory
10	* TheAlcoholic: Lou Redwood. Also Ed Monix, apparently -- during the infamous JiveTurkey scene, he's mentioned as hardly ever being sober. This seems to be something of an InformedFlaw as Monix seems completely professional during games, and while he's found at a bar a few times in the film, he seems more pensive than inebriated. It's possible Monix's problem used to be worse and he's cleaning up a bit as part of his CharacterDevelopment.
11	* AnachronismStew: In one scene, the Tropics are playing against the Anaheim Amigos. In reality, the Amigos had relocated to Los Angeles and became the Stars in 1968. The name might have been used simply because [[RuleOfFunny it's funnier]].
12	* ArtifactTitle: Presumably the Flint Tropics started out in Florida before relocating to Michigan[[note]]this also counts as a HistoricalInJoke, as many actual ABA and NBA teams switched cities during their existence and kept their names even if they made little sense, such as the Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers and New Orleans/Utah Jazz[[/note]].
13	* ArtisticLicenseSports: [[spoiler:Yeah, there's no way in hell a player can just decide to play for the other team in the middle of a game because he feels like it, like Coffee Black does. Fun moment, though.]]
14	* BearsAreBadNews: Dewie the bear. "There will be no refunds! Your refund will be escaping this deathtrap with your life!" Dewie reappears at the very end [[spoiler:when he mauls the Commissioner]]. "Everybody panic! It's just like the Titanic, but it's full of bears!"
15	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The Tropics don't get accepted into the NBA for business reasons. However, they still finish fourth and take satisfaction in what they accomplished; Withers gets to play in the league with the Spurs; and Jackie gets a marketing job with the league's front office.]]
16	* BrickJoke: [[spoiler:Dewie the Bear, who gets out of the cage during his "fight" with Jackie. He randomly attacks Bobby while he's out for a walk later in the movie, then attacks the ABA commissioner out of nowhere right at the end of the film, making it a RunningGag too.]]
17	* BunnyEarsLawyer: Jackie isn't particularly talented as either a player or a coach, but he is quite savvy in marketing.
18	* CareerEndingInjury: Monix's career is on borrowed time thanks to a chronic knee injury, and is likely to retire at the end of the season.
19	* CaughtWithYourPantsDown: Kyle attempts to when he walks in on Monix and Lynn making out on the sofa, only to be stopped when Lynn spots him.
20	* ChromosomeCasting: There are few speaking roles for women in the film, with most female representation consisting of half-dressed "ball girls." Exceptions include Lynn in the film's obligatory TokenRomance and [[spoiler:Jackie's mother.]]
21	* DarkReprise: Jackie earned all his money that he bought the Tropics with using royalties from his song "Love Me Sexy." He later goes through a HeroicBSOD of sorts and sings a variation of that song while lying in a dumpster.
22	* DumbassHasAPoint: While he suggests it primarily out of self-interest (he originally believed his team would be part of the NBA merger) and arrogance, Jackie's proposal that the "best four teams should go" rather than the ones who are the most marketable or are largely successful already is objectively a more fair way to determine which teams will avoid being dissolved while the season isn't over yet.
23	* FailedASpotCheck: Monix is stunned when he sees Moon shoot his free-throws "Granny-style" during the last game against the Spurs, suggesting that Monix has somehow gone the entire season -- let alone his entire career -- without seeing Moon ever shoot a free throw before.
24	* IHaveManyNames: Clarence Withers has 4 nicknames. As follows: "Jumping" Johnny Johnson, Sugar Dunkerton, Downtown "Funky Stuff" Malone, and Coffee Black.
25	* FakeUltimateHero: At his lowest point, Jackie confesses that [[spoiler:''his mother'' wrote "Love Me Sexy" as a joke on a random napkin a few weeks before she died. And that his entire fledgling career as a musician and athlete was built on a song of hers that he took credit for, and it's been eating him up inside for years.]]
26	* FluffyCloudHeaven: When Jackie sees his mother.
27	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Jackie introduces Monix as an "old warrior," leading to Clarence cracking a joke about him just being old. Jackie wasn't lying, though; despite his knee and age, Monix fights like an animal during the brawl with the Amigos.
28	* {{Guyliner}}: Jackie has the guys wear eyeliner during a Game Of The Week so they'll look better on television. It works briefly to confuse their opponents, but the inevitable sweating leads to the make-up getting into their eyes and causing considerable pain.
29	* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: Cornelius seems amused by the fact that he was hit by a stray bullet while his friends were playing around with a gun they thought was unloaded.
30	* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Jackie uses some rather modern bombastic theatrics and stunts reminiscent of modern NBA halftime shows and marketing ploys to promote his team. They confuse his audiences more than anything.
31	* JadedWashout: Color commentator Lou Redwood, a former player who "still dreams of glory" and considers suiting up again. His normally good-natured broadcast partner Dick Pepperfield mocks him for this, suggesting that Lou's prime is long gone. Redwood seems to spend most of his time on-air drinking, casually dropping obscenities and awaiting the next inevitable brawl. Monix applies as well, as even though he's still playing ball, he has gone from being on the NBA world champion Celtics to being traded to the Tropics for a literal washing machine. [[spoiler: Monix has found a much healthier outlook by the film's end, having patched up most of his personal life and rediscovering his love for basketball.]]
32	* JiveTurkey: Turns out calling some a "Jive Turkey" is a ''very'' rude insult among Jackie's circle. So much so, Jackie tries claiming Cornelius called Lou a cocksucker instead.
33	* JugglingLoadedGuns: While playing poker, after the JiveTurkey incident, Lou pretends to threaten Cornelius with a gun as a prank, and says it's not loaded. ''Everyone at the poker table'' takes turns pointing the gun and pulling the trigger at each other. Predictably, the gun ''does'' have one round left; the bullet ricochets around the room and [[IJustShotMarvinInTheFace hits Cornelius's arm]] (it's in a cast). ''It's still played for laughs'' even though his arm is ''bleeding through the cast''.
34	* LoopholeAbuse:
35	** Ain't no rule says you can't play drunk. Well, there is a rule, but they can't enforce it. ("Remember those 30 free throws I did in Minnesota last year?" "Yeah?" "I don't.")
36	** When they first use the [[spoiler:alley-oop]], the ref rules it a violation, although the protagonists are ready and throw the rule book at him. The ref is forced to allow it.
37	* LoveFreak: Jackie Moon. His motto for the Tropics is "everybody love everybody," to mixed results, and he wears a ring that says "LOVE" on it. Any sort of disharmony clearly makes him upset.
38	* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: Cornelius gets shot in the arm (which had already been broken). He, along with everybody else, just laughs it off.
39	* NeverTrustATitle: The ABA was a Professional league, not [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semi-professional_sports semi-pro.]]
40	* OneHitWonder: InUniverse: Jackie's disco hit "Love Me Sexy."
41	* OnlySaneMan: Monix, who quickly realizes he's the only guy on the team who seems to care about designing and running plays, hustling on defense and actually following the score of the game. Moon even calls him a "bummer" for bringing these matters up. The Tropics end up rallying behind Monix, however, as they realize they'll actually need to play real basketball to save the team and keep their jobs.
42	* OpenMouthInsertFoot: While Jackie and the referee are arguing and the referee, who also happens to be a priest, implies he believes that Jackie's mom went to hell when she died. Jackie goes [[TranquilFury into]] StunnedSilence and walks away, along with several others including the announcer who declares he's leaving Father Pat's congregation in disgust. Jackie did, however, start the argument by spewing vulgarities and death threats at Father Pat.
43	* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: But of course; it's a sports comedy after all. The Tropics start the film at the bottom of the standings due to a combination of poor (or non-existent) coaching and lack of confidence. [[spoiler:It turns out they're actually a pretty damn good basketball team after all once they get a proper coach.]]
44	* RussianBear: Redwood refers to Vakidis as one during the brawl, as he's cleaning house thanks to being a HuskyRusskie. Vakidis is actually Lithuanian, but Lithuania wouldn't declare independence from the Soviet Union for another 15 years or so.
45	* ShipperOnDeck: Monix and his ex-girlfriend Lynn have one in the form of Monix superfan Kyle--who, funnily enough, is also Lynn's ''current boyfriend''.
46	* SkewedPriorities: When Jackie is in the ring with a bear and the bear is all over him like a cheap suit, he implores, “Watch my hair! The only thing I care about is my hair!”
47	* SmallNameBigEgo:
48	** Jackie Moon clearly thinks quite highly of himself, despite the fact that he's coasting on the fame of a single hit song [[spoiler:that he stole from his own mother]] and owning a rather bad basketball team with few fans.
49	** Clarence Withers is genuinely talented, but he is more concerned about looking cool and branding himself than actually playing effective team basketball. [[spoiler:He (alongside Jackie) gets a strong enough dose of BreakTheHaughty to get him to come around.]]
50	* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: [[spoiler:Two of them, actually, both concerning the alley-oop. Father Pat calls it a foul largely out of befuddlement. Most films would probably have Pat relent simply because it's a cool play or because of a plea from the desperate Tropics, but instead it simply comes down to Monix patiently explaining how the alley-oop violates no official rules. Father Pat can't find any hole in his reasoning and allows the play accordingly. And while the alley-oop gets the Tropics back in the game, it doesn't bring them the win as the Spurs eventually adjust their defense to stop it like any competent team would.]]
51	* TeenyWeenie: Twiggy Munson, hence his nickname. There's a scene in the film where he has two pretty girls consoling him, so it doesn't seem to be hurting his love life that badly.
52	* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: Even after Monix's training, Jackie's not a particularly good basketball player, but he excels at "granny style" free throws.
53	* TrainingFromHell: After taking over as coach, Monix forces the Tropics to run the same play again and again relentlessly so that they never forget it, and says they won't stop until they puke. And he means it, quite literally.
54	* WastebasketBall: Ed Monix misses the wastebasket while being introduced as the team's new captain.

Context Film / SemiPro