The TV Addict 

Dear Mr. Ferrell,

Before I say anything, I do want to emphasize that I mean only the best. My words are not meant to cut. Given the underperformance of your most recent film, SEMI-PRO, at the box office this past weekend, my intentions are not to kick you while you’re down. If anything, it’s to attempt to pick you up off the ground, brush you off, pat you gently on your butt, and send you on your way in a direction that doesn’t end up with you running into a wall.

So let me cut right to the chase: you need to stop making sports movies. After KICKING & SCREAMING, TALLADEGA NIGHTS, BLADES OF GLORY, and now SEMI-PRO, enough is enough. Heck, I might even suggest you steer clear of films that rest solely on making fun particular professions, whether they be sports-related or not (i.e. ZOOLANDER, BEWITCHED, and ANCHORMAN). It’s not that you’re not funny in them, or that they are horribly bad, it’s just that you’ve proven you can do more, and we all know (from your SNL days) that you’re more versatile than this. Also, you tell a good joke too many times, eventually (and inevitably) it stops being funny.

It’s now at the point where it’s just hard to motivate oneself to see yet another Will Ferrell sports movie. The only reason I even saw BLADES OF GLORY in theatres is because other friends were going. I was perfectly willing to wait for DVD. And I think that may be what happened with SEMI-PRO’s performance at the box office. There was no pressing need to see it in theatres. You’re still undoubtedly a star, and people still love you and find you hilarious. We just want to see you being hilarious in something else. STEP BROTHERS looks like it’s a step in the right direction (as long as you don’t make a trend of making films poking fun at familial roles), and I think more films in between like STRANGER THAN FICTION is exactly what could help correct the current course you are on.

So remember, if you get a comedy script sent to you from your agent that involves any sort of physical activities/sports or mocking of ridiculous professions, take a breath and a moment, and think about whether you really want to venture the road that is far from less travelled already by you.

Yours sincerely,

The REEL Addict