Review: Baseketball (1998)
Few films in the past three or four decades that have a high level of stupidity can also have longevity as well. BASEketball falls into this category.
The film about two deadbeats who choose to spend their days working on rules for a newly made-up, driveway game to pass the time rather than actually find and keep jobs has somehow found a cozy little spot in Hollywood history as being timely, satirical, and just plain stupidly funny. It’s stars, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, found crazy success with their Comedy Central hit South Park and eventually parlayed that onto the big screen with hits like South Park: The Movie, Team America, and the popular cult classic, Orgasmo. But it was the satire of BASEketball poking fun at overpaid professional athletes, the ridiculousness of team ownerships, and their quest for profit in the realm of sports via strategic marketing and sponsorship that caught the eye of one half of the Dude, What?! hosting squad, Mr. Brian Sumner.
BASEketball ©1998 Universal Pictures
With its constant jabs at professional sports and dated humor from the mid-nineties, BASEketball has a lot to offer for anyone wanting to get some good chuckles. There are so many quotable passages of dialogue and endless one-liners that this film has to rank up there as one of the “Most Quotable Films of All-Time.” Let’s not forget the ample amounts of sight gags, slapstick, and ridiculously stupid humor! For example, one character trying to reason for allowing owners to have more control so there will be more profit by asking,
“Look, do you think Shaq made his money in Orlando or L.A.?” and his buddy responding, as-matter-of-factly, “Shaq made his money in college, everybody knows that....”
Silliness like this and the heated scene where both friends talk to each other using only the word “Dude” (which has found a home in the intro to our show), along with a lot of really smart, funny writing make this film a classic that everyone should watch at least one time. Some of it will not have a lot of staying power for newer audiences, but the overall humor of the film more than makes up for those instances. On the Dude, What?! scale, it’s a solid 3 inching towards a 4 which is not bad at all. “Steeeeve Perry!!”
Brian J. Sumner is the Host of Dude, What?!, & author of The Secrets of Dr. Killiecrankie. He loves movies & activities that have balls. Lots of balls. Like, balls for days. Just balls. . . Everywhere.
