BASEketball

A mostly underwhelming comedy, BASEketball follows slacker buddies Joe (Trey Parker) and Doug (Matt Stone) as they become unlikely sports celebrities after inventing the title mashup of baseball and basketball – with the narrative detailing the impact this sudden fame has on the two friends. There’s little doubt that BASEketball‘s most obvious (and insurmountable) problem is its almost total lack of compelling, sympathetic protagonists, as Parker and Stone deliver obnoxious, increasingly grating work that negatively colors virtually everything else within the lackluster proceedings – with the supporting cast, which consists of folks like Jenny McCarthy, Dian Bachar, and Yasmine Bleeth, faring just as poorly and generally enhancing the movie’s less-than-compelling atmosphere. (Only Robert Vaughn, cast as the heroes’ nemesis, manages to make anything resembling a positive impact, ultimately.) By the time the rather anticlimactic final game rolls around, BASEketball has certainly cemented its place as a disappointing misfire that’s aged terribly in the years since its 1998 release.

** out of ****