Welcome back to my blog. Here’s my recommendation of a movie to check out today and hope you punch your “Ticket to the Movies!” OK, let’s check out a mostly inadequate football film called “Semi-Tough,” but its consistent mocking of self-help nonsense elevates it almost “must-see” status (plus, you have a “007” villain who gives co-star Burt Reynolds an “adjustment” of a lifetime).
“Semi-Tough” is the story of two star pro-football players (Reynolds and Kris Kristofferson) who live with the team owner’s daughter (a potty-mouthed Jill Clayburgh as the double entendre named “Barbara Jane ‘BJ’ Bookman”) in wonderful, platonic bliss. Well, platonic for just so long.
The key thread throughout “Semi-Tough” is how just about everyone gets caught up in some nonsensical self-help crap that infected the latter 1970s. It mocks such idiotic self-help movements such as the nonsensical EST and even does an admirable job of trashing Rolfing (remember that steaming pile of crap?) as “Pelfing” with the woman who played “007” villain “Rosa Klebb” (remember her in “From Russia With Love” with the lethal shoe?).
Of course, there’s a storyline with “Semi-Tough,” but it really doesn’t matter. You’re watching Burt, Kris and Jill. The football scenes in “Semi-Tough” are amateurish beyond belief by today’s special effects standards, but there’s a great pre-Super Bowl interview scene with Burt and Carl Weathers that sneaks in some solid acting in a swirling pool of much less solid acting.
Basically with “Semi-Tough,” you have Reynolds in love with Clayburgh, who finds herself engaged to Kristofferson. The whole thing plays out to an unforgettable non-ceremony with a wonderfully savage, yet humorous, series of fist-fights in a beautiful church.
So, I say punch your “Ticket to the Movies!” and watch “Semi-Tough.” It is available on a limited number of subscription services and rental on others. You will thank me later, if you manage to find and watch “Semi-Tough.”
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