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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
This comedy is based on Dan Jenkins's novel about two good-old-boy pro football players (Burt Reynolds and Kris Kristofferson). Best friends on the field and off, they're also friendly competitors in the arena of love for the same woman (Jill Clayburgh), who happens to be the daughter of their team's owner. Directed by Michael Ritchie, who was something of a poet of films about competition in the 1970s and early 1980s, this movie has a certain shaggy charm, abetted by Reynolds's knowing way with a one-liner. If Semi-Tough doesn't seem to go much of anywhere, it still has a good time getting there. The best moment is a send-up of an est-like self-actualization program, with the late Bert Convy as a wonderfully smarmy stand-in for Werner Erhard. --Marshall Fine
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
another misunderstood 1970s masterpiece,
This review is from: Semi-Tough (DVD)
I have to respectfully disagree with many of the other commentators and "reviewers" on this particular film. In truth Semi-Tough is a daring, imaginative, and intelligent reinvention of classic Hollywood comedies of remarriage, (Ritchie's model was The Philadelphia Story) from the point of view of Ritchie, who was influenced by the observational, loose camera styling of documentary work as much as he was influenced by the sort of sharp, merciless social satire of American foibles and set not in a drawing room but in the world of pro-football.
All three leads are perfect. Each works well off the other two, and one of the astonishing things about Semi-Tough is how it manages to dip into the lowest of farcical and sexual humor and yet retain the dignity and verbal sophistication of the writing from the thirties and forties. Convy is perfect ( and perfectly sleazy) as a Werner Erhard imitator and it is the greatest fun to see a movie so willing to criticize and lampoon so many cherished movements and fads that would come to dominate our lives in this country even more so in the three decades that followed this movie. The movie is relaxed about sexual matters. It concerns mature, adult themes and manages to tonally shift throughout from burlesque to genuine intimacy between its characters. It both respects and criticizes the world of sports and actually gives informed perspectives about how awful all of the earnestness of some of these spiritual movements can be for those that get caught up in them. Burt Reynolds is the sane center of the film: his common sensical rejection of a culture that takes itself too seriously and his playboy libertine ways are a great foil for the dilemma of Jill Clayburgh's falling in love with Kris Kristofferson. Semi-Tough has wonderful moments and comic vignettes that, though they contribute to the movement of story, reflect a different attitude towards storytelling in the 1970s and exist for their own sake, respecting the art that actors engage in. Even Brian Dennehy is interesting as a neanderthal, stereotypical jock; though he is brutish you never lose a sense of the humanity present. Robert Preston and Lotta Lenya only add to the fun. Is it dated and terribly 70s? Yes and that is a virtue here because it is also a sociological document, a time capsule, in keeping with Michael Ritchie's background in documentary. You never know what will happen next in a film like this. Even the ending seems to run off the rails, becoming a different kind of movie completely, which shows daring on the part of the makers since they had no qualms about shifting a movie from one emotional center to another for stylistic effect. Semi-Tough is from a time when filmmakers were genuine artists and took chances, even in the confines of a big budget studio movie. For that and all other reasons listed above I recommend it without any reservations.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
ita a riot,
By
This review is from: Semi-Tough (DVD)
i found semi tought to be well played out and humorous throughout there was never a dull moment.bert rynolds is one who keeps the movie flowing with his same personality that he had in smoky and the bandit years kris kristofferson is a good at playing off of bert rynolds but the one that holds the movie together is jill clayburgh she is sexy and at the same time logical her carector
3.0 out of 5 stars
I Paid $2.99 At the Supermarket. I Got My Money's Worth,
By
This review is from: Semi-Tough : Widescreen Edition (DVD)
This is an OK film that attempts to skewer both professional sports and new age encounter training and falls short on both counts. To be truly great satire you have to lacerate your intended targets not merely tweak them. It seems the makers of the film were so afraid to offend their intended targets that they took a cowardly approach to their subject matter. Shockingly, the film was directed by Michael Ritchie whose previously satirized brilliantly beauty pageants and organized children's sports in "Smile" and "The Bad News Bears" respectively. Ring Lardner Jr., who wrote the script for "M*A*S*H", had his name taken off the credits. Sole redeeming qualities are a charismatic turn by star Burt Reynolds and a funny turn by a young Ron Silver as an Iron Bloc placekicker.
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