Alicia I love this movie so much

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Mischa Redfern I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Claire Dunne One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

classicsoncall The time lapse involved between reading the Dan Jenkins book and catching this picture is now closing in on about forty years for me. My best recollection is that the book was hilarious, one of those stories that you don't stop reading until you're done. The difference between this film and the novel are palpable, even after four decades. I didn't get that much of a charge out of the flick.So calling this a football movie would be a misnomer, there's really very little game action in the story. The main idea here was sending up all those self help seminars of the Seventies meant to get one in touch with one's self. I had a college prof once who took a similar approach, asking the class to position themselves (in our desks) in a manner meant to convey how in touch we were with him and the rest of the students. For a liberal school, I couldn't sit far enough away. But we read a lot of R. Crumb - keep on truckin' dude! So with all the 'being where it's at', 'getting it or not getting it', and the whole business about mixed marriages, this flick got a little tedious after a while. Jill Clayburgh was the perfect casting call for the role of Barbara Jane. I've seen her in a few other films and she's got the tedious thing down pretty well pat.Reading some of the other reviews I see the film has it's share of adherents, but if it's a 'real' football movie you want, along with Burt Reynolds, your best bet is to head on over to 1974's "The Longest Yard" or the 2005 remake of the same name - Reynolds is in both.

tieman64 The majority of Michael Ritchie's early films focused on the competitiveness and ruthlessness of a then contemporary United States. Be it "Downhill Racer" (1969), "Bad News Bears" (1976), "Smile" (1975) or "The Candidate" (1972), all his films during this period are explicitly about competition, American institutions and individuals who put their personal goals (and/or profits) before a team, community or group (or vice versa).One of Ritchie's weakest films, "Semi Tough" is a shapeless and abrasive satire which focuses on the world of American Foodball. Ritchie takes aim at obsessions with winning, self-help programmes, health fads and the vanity and vacuity of the self-obsessed. His overall target, though, is a more generalised form of "self-improvement". American capitalism itself hinges on a certain unquenchable, existential lack. The consumer is always unfulfilled, always in need of completion, an anxiety which capitalism incessantly creates desires to exploit. Failures to attain contentment are then transfered back to the subject, leading to guilt and an escalation of transfered desires; maybe the next hit will bring completion. Elsewhere the film watches as children of the 1960s struggle in their search for meaning a decade after vague promises of liberation collapsed. What they latch onto is essentially a New Age cult which mixes narcissism and individualism with corporate maxims. Other Ritchie themes are brought up - the costs and violence of winning, exacted on both winners and losers etc - but it all feels forced, Ritchie trying too hard to be the next Altman. Tonally, the film struggles to juggle comedy, satire and drama."Semi Tough" is criticised for being smug and abrasive, but that's understandable, considering it's populated by smug, abrasive and self-obsessed characters. The film would begin Ritchie's slide into more mainstream, forgettable territory. Robert Altman's similarly themed "HEALTH" was released one year later.5/10 - Worth one viewing.

david.steiner It's too bad Michael Ritchie died of prostate cancer in 2000. So there's no opportunity for a commentary track unless Reynolds, Kristofferson and Clayburgh decide to get together to do it, which would be an excellent idea. Bert Convy who played a caricature of Werner Erhard named "Frederick Bismark" died in 1991 at the age of 57 of a brain tumor. An unfortunate loss; his performance, one of his few in films is superior and worth the price of the disc. He's remembered as a game show host, but he earned his acting chops from 1958 in television dramas. Carl Weathers, who would have a major role as Apollo Creed in three Rocky movies, has a small role here. Jill Clayburgh's best work is arguable, but for someone who got her start in soaps in th 60s and whose movies include Portnoy's Complaint, Gable and Lombard and Hanna K., Semi-Tough has to be a highlight. It's difficult to think of someone who might have been better in this role. Robert Preston is one of those actors who hasn't been replaced. The movies he made, for the most part, can't be remade because there's nobody like him. From 1938 until his death in 1987: This Gun For Hire, Whispering Smith, The Bells of St. Mary"s, How the West Was Won, The Music Man, S.O.B.,Victor, Victoria. His performance as the football team owner is priceless. Lotte Lenya has a small role as Clara Pelf, in a not-to-be-missed scene as a masochistic masseuse by this great actress. True, it's not a great movie, but for those of us who were there or who'd like to know about the excesses of the 70s, this movie is very hard to beat for laughs and a sometimes painful look at the way we were.

magneta Jenkins's novel is one of the funniest books ever written, and THE funniest sports novel. The movie is a total trashing of Jenkins's work. It retains only the title, the names of a few of the characters, none of the book's plot, and none of its humor. The storyline bears absolutely no resemblance to the book. Billy Clyde's diary of the week leading to the Super Bowl, with all its hilarity, has been replaced by a silly look at self-improvement fads and crazes and Gene Autry music. Reynolds and Kristofferson are not believable as professional football players, although Kris would have been a great Elroy Blunt, had that important character been retained from the book. The problem was that Jenkins lost control of the scriptwriting. When the scene in which Billy Clyde and Shake are discussing their rating system for women was written, it used the Dudley Moore scale of 1-10, with 10 being tops. Jenkins informed the director that in the book, the scale went the other way, with a "1" being the top vote. He was informed, "This is the movie!"I give this one a "1", using the movie's scale.