1990s Comedy Blockbuster Doesn’t Deserve All The Hate
Though it seems like Trey Parker and Matt Stone can do no wrong, they’ll be the first to tell you that they weren’t fans of 1998’s BASEketball. The two South Park creators starred in this critically panned David Zucker film and have stated several times that they’re not proud of their work, but the film has a legacy of its own that needs to be considered. Since its initial release, BASEketball has become a cult classic, and is widely celebrated by both David Zucker and South Park fans alike.
Boasting the same kind of slap-stick humor that David Zucker put on the map with films like Airplane! and the Naked Gun franchise, BASEketball is your classic underdog story, heightened to ridiculous proportions.
BASEketball is the first and only Trey Parker and Matt Stone project that they didn’t have full creative control over. When they signed on to star in the movie under Zucker’s direction, they were running under the assumption that South Park would soon be canceled.
But they ended up working on their show and the sports parody movie at the same time because South Park was picked up for another season. Putting themselves through a grueling production schedule on both fronts, Parker and Stone took on the roles of Joe “Coop/Airman” Cooper, and Doug “Sir Swish” Remer.
Boasting the same kind of slap-stick humor that David Zucker put on the map with films like Airplane! and the Naked Gun franchise, BASEketball is your classic underdog story, heightened to ridiculous proportions. There are plenty of groin-shots and pun-based visual gags to keep you engaged from the first scene until the closing credits, and it’s all but impossible to count how many jokes are made per minute.
BASEketball is the perfect movie to watch with friends while throwing back a few beers.
BASEketball starts off at a high school reunion party, when a couple of jocks challenge Coop and Remer to a quick game of two-on-two. The two best friends use their free-throwing skills and quick wits to invent the titular game that combines elements of baseball and basketball with a healthy amount of trash-talking so they could win a $50 bet.
Months later, eccentric businessman and multi-billionaire, Ted Denslow, helps them form the National BASEketball league (NBL).
Five years later, we see Coop, Remer, and their long-time friend, Kenny “Squeak/Little Bi***” Scolari, dominating the BASEketball championship circuit, but still unable to win the coveted Denslow Cup. While attending Denslow’s will reading after he chokes to death on a hotdog, they learn that they have only one more chance to win the title, or the team’s ownership will revert to his widowed wife, Yvette.
Meanwhile, rival team owner Baxter Cain forms a relationship with Yvette, and starts plotting to sabotage their team so he can claim ownership.
BASEketball Flops Hard Upon Release
Upon its release, BASEketball was both a critical and commercial failure. Earning only $7 million at the box office against its reported budget of $25 million, the film didn’t even come close to breaking even. To add insult to injury, this David Zucker film was eaten alive by critics, earning a dismal 41 percent critical score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Trey Parker and Matt Stone have also gone on record several times stating that although they were the movie’s stars, that they didn’t write the critically panned sports parody. They’ve made references to the ill-fated in South Park episodes like “The Passion of the Jew” and “Sarcastaball.” What’s more, famed sports commentator, Bob Costas, sees his own contribution to the film as a mark of shame and has publicly disavowed the movie on numerous occasions.
It’s worth noting, however, that BASEketball is the perfect movie to watch with friends while throwing back a few beers. Though Parker and Stone aren’t necessarily proud of their work, the film boasts the same over-the-top humor that one would find in an episode of South Park.
We can’t think any other comedic duo who has the ability to make you spit out your drink laughing as they inadvertently wreck a hospital after getting a little kid inebriated just hours before his liver transplant.
Audiences seem to agree as well. Though BASEketball’s critical score is less than favorable, audiences gave the film a 74 percent. Any die-hard South Park fan will recommend this film to you faster than you can say “I hear your little sister’s going out with Squeak!”
