Baseketball

Two losers with little hope or ambition, create an amalgam-sport which falls somewhere between baseball and basketball, called baseketball. The sport rises to popular new heights, and tests its original non-commerciality promise, and the friendship of a couple of air-headed dude buddies.

Sophomoric comedy barely curves a few laughs over home plate, pops up a lot of corny and repetitive jokes, but hits a homerun for originality and strong performances by the new kids on the block, Matt Stone and Trey Parker. This movie starts off with an original premise, a healthy cast of campy actors, but slowly deteriorates into a “one-joke” movie, with a weak plot line and flat sight gags. Don’t get me wrong, I chuckled at quite a few of the jokes in this film, but unfortunately for its makers (The Zucker Brothers of AIRPLANE and the NAKED GUN series fame), there weren’t enough to carry the weak story in which they were stirred. I mean, how many times can you show the audience cheering, the “sexy” cheerleaders leading, and the players trying to “psyche each other out”, before you look for a little more? I would recommend it to anyone who’s looking for a cute basis for a comedy, with a little zing, but not much zang.

Also, if you’re a fan of TV’s “South Park”, I’m sure you’ll want to see it for the big-screen debut of the creators of that show, Stone and Parker, who actually work perfectly in this film, and really seem at ease and very natural before the camera. So if you don’t think the premise of this movie is cute, and you don’t care for either one of these two individuals, I suggest you skip this hit-and-miss comedy, and check out the funnier THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY. Also, keep in mind that most of the humor in this film is based in the pool of “stupid humor”, which I personally enjoy, but others might not. All in all, a so-so time at the videostore. By the way, if you do get to see this film on video, there are about 15 minutes worth of outtakes at the end of the film, which you could definitely skip out on. They are absolutely NOT FUNNY, and actually carved away from the little smile that I had at the end of the movie. Dude, why would you even put those unfunny outtakes there to begin with? Dude? Duuuuuuuuude ????

(c) 2021 Berge Garabedian