I'll skip right to the point in this review. BASEketball is easily one of my favorite comedies. It does pretty much exactly what would would expect it to do, and that is deliver laughs from start to finish. Now, while that sounds easy, one look at ninety percent of the comedies these days paints a much different picture.

BASEketball starts Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the award-winning creators of Comedy Central's South Park series. That said, don't expect this movie to contain the wit you'll see in the average South Park episode. While there are occasional bouts of wit (particularly at the beginning, when the movie maligns what has become of professional sports), BASEketball is mostly content to be dumb, fun comedy, and in that it succeeds brilliantly. There are also plenty of moments that seem like they were either improved by Matt and Trey, or were at least written specifically for them as actors, which adds a lot to the unique comedic style of the film.

The film follows Joe Cooper (Coop) and Doug Remer, two failures who show up at a high school reunion party to find that all of the people they used to make fun of have gone on to do something with their lives. At the party, they create a new basketball game in order to avoid having to play a game of actual two-on-two with two obviously superior athletes. That game is BASEketball, which, as the name implies, meshes together the two sports, with a few additional rules thrown in to make things more interesting.

Basically, a player can shoot from four distances away from the hoop, with the closest being a single and the farthest being a home run. Teams score points by crossing home plate, which works just as baseball does. The game becomes interesting in that a player is allowed to psyche out the opposing player when they shoot the ball (by any means other than physically touching them). Naturally, this leads to some of the greatest moments in the film, as there are some truly spectacular (and clever) psyche-outs to be seen.

After the party is over, Coop and Doug continue to play baseketball, and they come to love the game over the months that follow. A new player, Kenny Scolari (or Squeak, as everyone calls him), is added to the team shortly after when he fails to shut off their gas and loses his job. Much of the movie is spent with Coop and Doug making fun of Squeak, and all three have great chemistry together, undoubtedly due to the fact that they have been friends in real life since college, and have worked on numerous projects together.

Coop and Remer get their big break when billionaire Ted Denslow discovers their game and offers to make them pros. Unlike most other pro sports, however, baseketball has laws that prevent teams from moving cities and players from changing teams, thus making it a more pure form of sporting. The game quickly catches on with the general public as a result of its approachable nature, and the fact that the game allows pretty much anyone to be a star.

The movie's main plot begins when Ted Denslow chokes to death during the Beers' (the team that Joe, Doug, and Squeak are on, and the one owned by Denslow) championship game, causing Coop to miss the game-winning shot. The death of Denslow gives rival billionaire Baxter Cain (Robert Vaughn, playing the same evil villain character he plays in pretty much everything) the chance he's been looking for to take over the baseketball league, and change the games bylaws to allow players to change teams and teams to change cities, thus taking away the game's purity.

Further, Denslow's will gives the team to Coop, but only under the condition that he lead the Beers to a championship victory the next season. If he fails in this task, the team's ownership will revert to Yvette (Jenny McCarthy), his widow. Cain takes this opportunity to cozy up to Yvette, and together they plot to take down the Beers and ensure that she acquires control of the team.

The movie also follows a side plot that has Coop infatuated with Jenna Reed (Yasmine Bleeth), the director of the Dream Come True foundation (basically the Make a Wish foundation). This plot ties in with the main plot later in the film, and also provides plenty of great moments, particularly ones that involve Joey, a child who is going to die if he doesn't get a new liver. The kid does a surprisingly great job holding his own among actors like Parker and Stone.

What really makes BASEketball such a great movie is the snappy writing. The movie rarely takes a pause from the humor, and you'll probably laugh more in this one film than you do in the next two or three comedies you watch. And, as mentioned above, the movie occasionally makes witty remarks, such as poking fun at Shaq making all of his money in college, or how corporate sponsorship is ruining sports (a great shot of the fictitious Maxi Tampon Stadium results). All in all, it's just an expertly written comedy, even if the funny stuff is only occasionally meaningful.

Pretty much everyone in the movie does an ample job on the acting front. Trey Parker naturally carries the film, and Matt Stone and Dian Bachar provide him with some great support. Vaughn plays the villainous Baxter Cain expertly given his relatively weak material (Cain is more or less there to justify the film's existence), while McCarthy and Bleeth seem to be having fun with their roles in the film.

The film gains credibility as a sports spoof by the addition of quite a few real-life sportscasters such as Bob Costas and Al Michaels (who have a lot of great banter during the film), as well as through the cameos of several professional sports stars, including Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Robert Stack of Unsolved Mysteries fame also makes a few appearances.

All in all, BASEketball is the type of comedy that anyone who isn't easily offended needs to see. It's hilarious, and that counts for a lot. The plot is slim (but really, that's the case in most comedies, as they're more about the dialogue and antics than the story), but the actors do a great job of carrying themselves.

This is an easy recommendation. See this movie now!

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age