Trey Parker and Matt Stone, as if you didn't know by now, are the creators of the immensly popular South Park. That having been their only real recognizable creative achievement, you may be wondering what the hell the two of them are doing starring in a major motion picture. Easy, they're doing what they do best, dick and fart jokes.
You may remember a line from Kevin Smith's "Chasing Amy" in which the title character Holden Macneil says that his grandma told him the money's in the dick and fart jokers, well that's the philosophy that Baseketball is going by.
Low brow humor is always a tricky sort, as there's low brow, then there's crafty low brow. The difference, one makes you giggle a little, like small boys looking at National Geographic Magazines (you know what I'm talking about), the other makes you react in either shock, dismay, or disgust.
More of the jokes in Baseketball are of the giggleing kind, but the film tries to be something more, a parody of professional athletics (namely the major American sports, not Canadian Curling). It does succed at times, but loses focus of this objective by the end, becoming yet another "ha-hem" type of films.
The concept of the film, directed and co-written by Larry Zucker (formerly of the Airplane and Hot Shots films) is based on the boom of a sport combining baseball, basketball, and volleyball called Baseketball. The first 20 to 25 minutes contain most of the really good humour and satire, as it is based on real life events (with some embellishing), Zucker having actually co-created the sport and played it for many years. As the story leads into the professional Baseketball circuit its focus switches from the satire of sports to the in your face low-brow jokes, although the corruption of money in sports is still examined.
In the end, everything seems to work out fine, which is the biggest sports satire of all, (since nothing is ever fine in the sports world). The film made me laugh, I'll admit it. I like dick and fart jokes, and that's okay. Writing this I'm torn between a serious critique and what I actually thought (which is why it reads a bit disjointed). Funny, yes. Smart, a little. Good, well.... it would have been better if they had done more with the examination and critiquing (through humour) of the sports industry. There that's what I think.
Oh, as for Stone and Parker, they actually are good actors and comedians. Who'dathunkit?