question: Semi-Pro is an intermittently funny, half-hearted attempt at sports satire, and one of Will Ferrell's weaker cinematic efforts.

numbered reviews: 1. There are some ludicrous sight gags and uniquely silly, if foul-mouthed, laughs. The movie falters when it tries to be serious. Fortunately, those moments are few.
2. The humor is mostly visual while too many of the scenes that are actually written whimper out without a punch line.
3. You can't help but marvel, and laugh at, Ferrell's indefatigable enthusiasm and willingness to make a complete ass of himself.
4. If you're a Ferrell fan, this is probably the kind of movie you want to see him in.
5. [S]wing[s] with thoughtless abandon from one posture to another. Bam! Here's a vomit joke! Bam! Here's a tenderly romantic moment!
6. With all the vertical leap of a pygmy in a pick-up game, "Semi-Pro" is like a movie in the mind of a 10-year-old who's discovered profanity, pornography and a shoebox of blank Mad-Libs - funny only to the person coming up with it.
7. Will Ferrell in short shorts. Isn't that enough to inspire you to see the movie Semi-Pro?
8. This '70s-period sports comedy is only funny about half of the time and seems like an uneasy film hybrid. Half the time it's trying to be a Will Ferrell vehicle, and half the time it's trying to rip off of earlier, better movies.
9. I laughed from start to finish at its relentlessly, energetically profane absurdity and a cast crammed with funny actors in even the smallest roles.
10. Ferrell is capable of a great deal more than he's been delivering. It might surprise him to learn that white men can jump. But first they have to try.


question: It fails to challenge the well-established conventions of its storyline, but Cemetery Junction benefits from the genuine warmth of its script, as well as its refusal to give in to cheap nostalgia.

numbered reviews: 1. It's deftly written, unobtrusively directed and nicely acted, indicating Gervais (along with Merchant) does have a future as a film director after all.
2. It is entertaining as far as it goes, but it would have to be fully and Gervaisishly funny, or else fully nasty, vinegary and sad before everyone involved was, to coin a phrase, up the junction.
3. A romanticised but still truthful look at how difficult it is to cut the ties to the hometown of your childhood and actually strike out on your own...
4. The plot ambles and Gervais and Merchant can't resist neatly tying up every loose end in a manner which strains credibility. Their dramatic crescendo is a mother pouring a cup of tea.
5. Where Cemetery Junction's strength lies is in its depiction of the relationship between three friends.
6. While Remi Adefarasin's cinematography gives the picture a superficially cinematic sheen, this is essentially small-minded fare, unimaginative in its ambitions and clumsy in its execution.
7. There's a strong autobiographical tone to this British period drama, and the cast is very good. But by never focussing the story in a meaningful way, the film pales in comparison to its nearest predecessor, An Education.
8. A first feature that is far from perfect but has its heart in all the right places.
9. This is a passable, mildly diverting, coming-of-age Brit-flick. Coming from the Gervais/Merchant stable though, it's a frustrating let-down after past successes.
10. Good looks, cool characters, great music. Gervais and Merchant's film is the most confident British debut since Shallow Grave.


question: Though it benefits from the comic charms of its two leads, Tommy Boy too often feels like a familiar sketch stretched thin.

numbered reviews: 1. Astounding for its number of effective gags, and it is a comedy that loses nothing on repeat viewings.
2. Tommy Boy is a good belly laugh of a movie.
3. Passably funny star vehicle. Nothing great.
4. A bone-headed farce that embraces its banality with sheer jubilation. Farley and Spade bring their inspired and nutty SNL antics to frenzied form.
5. It's not high art -- but it IS pretty damn funny, and sometimes that's more than good enough.
6. Tommy Boy unspools just as you expect it to, and the comedy is as unrewarding as the story
7. David Spade and Chris Farley made a fine comedic team.
8. Chris Farely at his best.
9. The most peculiar aspect of the movie is that some of it is played straight.
10. The late Chris Farley's funniest work


question: A slick and well-made thriller that takes on new weight due to the current political climate.

numbered reviews:
1. A very capable nailbiter.
2. Sharply-written opening yields to predictable melodrama.
3. It was an okay movie with okay acting, an okay story and an okay premise...
4. Robinson handles it all with a swift precision and an intense, jet-powered stride.
5. Ben Affleck is more than a stand-in for Harrison Ford.
6. Sum's world is a moron-friendly version of Thirteen Days posing as current events, one where the Middle East is barely given a passing glance.
7. Can you be entertained by a fictional tale of nuclear terrorism right now? Doubtless plenty of people ... [will] find The Sum of All Fears chillingly effective. Others ... will just find it harrowing and pointlessly painful.
8. The story alone could force you to scratch a hole in your head.
9. The Sum of All Fears may not be super-smart, but it's rock-solid.
10. A middlebrow hybrid that should satisfy most fans of spy movies without blowing them away.