If Universal Pictures really wanted viewers to properly appreciate ``BASEketball'' the studio should have furnished each ticket-buyer with a free six-pack. This proud-to-be-stupid comedy, which unites the creators of ``South Park'' and one of the men behind the ``Naked Gun'' series, is is the type of movie designed to be watched in a bar, at a frat house, or after a party. Putting it in an alcohol-free theatrical setting makes about as much sense as packing a suitcase for your trip to Nudestock.
With its consistently raunchy tone ``BASEketball'' can't help but invite comparisons to ``There's Something About Mary,'' the hit that's taken low-brow humor to new heights. Though ``BASEketball'' cheerfully pours on one gross-out after another - a guy drinks from a bidet, clueless heroes Coop (Trey Parker) and Remer (Matt Stone) knock back tequila with an 8-year-old boy, a character discovers a woman's hair stuck between his teeth - nothing here approaches the sick genius of the ``hair gel'' scene in ``Mary.''
But two points for trying. Stone and Parker may not be actors, but they'll do anything to get a reaction or to spice up the movie's so-called plot. The story involves Coop and Remer's attempts to save their newly created sport from the clutches of villains Cain (Robert Vaughn) and curvy black-widow Yvette (Jenny McCarthy, who has very little screen time and almost nothing to do).
Unsurprisingly, the best laughs in ``BASEketball'' have nothing to do with the central story, such as when earnest Yasmine Bleeth asks that the kids she cares for be referred to as ``health-challenged or life-impaired'' rather than terminally ill.
Writer-director David Zucker crams as much verbal and visual humor in each shot as possible - watch the background action carefully - in an effort to amuse or offend as frequently as possible. The biggest joke of all, however, may be Zucker's claim in the press information that the film is based on a true story. Now that is funny.
James Sanford
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