Jackie Moon, owner and star of a basketball team, must place in the top four teams in the league or lose his team forever. Jackie Moon is a rich egomaniac, thanks to the huge success and profits from his one-hit disco wonder, "Love Me Sexy." This gives him enough money to make a dream a reality: become the star, the coach, and the owner of his own basketball team. He owns the Flint Tropics, a small team in the ABA, the lesser of two basketball leagues in the nation. When he hears the NBA, the bigger basketball league, will be absorbing four ABA teams and the rest will simply cease to exist, Jackie panics. Flint's market is so small and his team is so bad that it's impossible they'll choose his team. He makes a proposal that the ABA accepts: the four teams with the best records will move to the NBA. The ABA officials think there's no way the Tropics can turn it around, so they're not worried. Jackie, now inspired, starts making moves, trading for Ed Monix, who used to play for the NBA champion Boston Celtics. The Tropics start winning, but the commissioner of the ABA drop another bomb: they need to have a good attendance every game for the rest of the season, or their efforts on the court won't matter. Jackie starts wheeling out crazy stunts to bring people in, including song and dance numbers by the players, and even at one point wrestling a bear after the game. Monix starts taking over as coach, and the team makes it to fifth place. However, with one game to go and a chance to make it to the NBA, the commissioner tells Jackie that they're not taking the Tropics regardless of the result. Jackie grows despondent, trades their best player, and essentially gives up... but Monix rallies the team to fight to win the final game, just for themselves.
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Best part of story, including ending:
The set-up is fine and the characters are good... the problem with Semi-Pro is that there really aren't that many actual jokes, with set-ups and punchlines.
Best scene in story:
The scene in which Jackie plans to wrestle a bear is by far the funniest scene, especially when the bear escapes from the ring.
Opinion about the main character:
Jackie is in the vein of other Will Ferrell blowhard types, but he has less charisma, and the act feels strained here.
