Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		2.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		2.5

BASEketball Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 31, 2017

Sports are big business and hugely popular, but sports are also stagnant. There hasn't been much innovation over the years, no real new sport that's taken off to the professional ranks and captured the world's attention. Baseball, football, basketball, hockey, golf...they're all rich with history and, despite some rules changes, relocations, expansions, and other fringe changes, their cores essentially remain the same. BASEketball offers a glimpse into one hybrid sport -- baseball and basketball if for some reason that's not obvious -- that starts small and explodes into a hugely popular phenomenon. A game with some strict rules but at the same time an anything-goes approach and openness to "athletes" of all shapes and sizes, the sport makes for an interesting subject and the Frankenstein construction allows for sports film cliché and drama to carry it through as it pokes fun at its genre while commenting on the money-talks state of professional sports today.

Sports have evolved from contests of will and skill to money making machines. Sportsmanship is on the decline, sponsorship is on the rise. As owners and athletes became richer, fans became more frustrated. Attendance waned and money dried up. But some of today's young adults remember when sports heroes like Reggie Jackson did the impossible and made everyone a fan and a believer in the inherent goodness of the games. One such man is Joe Cooper (Trey Parker). He and his friend Doug Remer (Matt Stone) are directionless, their dreams of sports superstardom faded, and their prospects for life virtually nil. But one day, when some snotty acquaintances bet them money they don't have over a two-on-two backyard basketball game, they turn the tables by inventing a game more their style that requires only sharpshooting abilities over skills like running and dribbling. They invent the rules as they go, and they win.

BASEketball, as they call it, gradually takes off. It's a small-town success that garners national headlines. Joe and Doug are approached by a billionaire named Ted Denslow (Ernest Borgnine) to take the game pro. Joe and Doug agree, but on condition that things don't deteriorate into the corporate-controlled cesspool that defines other professional sports. There will be no free agents, no team relocations, just pure sporting bliss that anyone can enjoy. Their team, The Beers, finds instant success in the now-nationwide league. But when Mr. Denslow dies, other owners smell opportunity and blood. Denslow wills The Beers to Joe, but he soon finds himself playing not only for the championship but the sport's very purity when another bigwig owner, Baxter Cain (Robert Vaughn), hatches a scheme to seize control and turn the league into a moneymaking machine.

BASEketball may be inane, but it's also a fair bit of fun. It's raunchy in genre-typical fashion, particularly during various segments where players may "psyche out" their opponents, which can include drinking liposuction-ed fat from a bag or a character squirting milk on an opponent from his nipples. The film does find a fairly consistent sense of humor, though, even away from the one-off psyche-out gags, though it's still a fairly trite, routine film with gags that might earn a laugh in the moment but don't necessarily resonate afterwards. The sports action is well done and cleverly put together; it feels small even with big names like Al Michaels and Bob Costas calling the game, but then again the BASEketball field of play need not be particularly large, either. The sport does look fun but could have been made better with some tweaks, maybe get more players involved on any given play. Nevertheless, the hybrid sport allows the film to explore all of the big genre permutations and it even climaxes in a scene right out of The Natural. For South Park fans, Matt and Trey throw out some of their popular voices, including a scene where "Cartman" psyches out a large, imposing player on one of the other teams.

BASEketball Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

BASEketball arrives on Blu-ray sourced from a dated master that doesn't hold up well on the 1080p format. It's a victim of noise reduction, artificial sharpening, and edge enhancement, the former particularly troublesome as characters are left appearing pasty and unnatural. All is not lost, though, as a fair bit of detail remains -- pores are complex and tangibly deep in close-up, and various elements like uniforms, balls, and scoreboards show satisfactory complexity and clarity. Colors are vibrant but lack much in the way of nuance. Reds, blues, and greens show plenty of punch but the image's slightly oversaturated push leaves them with only vitality rather than accuracy while the palette pushes a little warm, too. Print wear is most evident over the opening titles, but the occasional speckle remains for the duration. The image benefits from the uptick in resolution and occasionally doesn't look all that troubled, but its flaws are readily apparent in most scenes.

BASEketball Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

BASEketball's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack is plenty active but limited by the state of its elements. Early on, it's a rather bland, straightforward, front-heavy track. Things open up once the BASEketball league goes pro. The open arena, cheering crowds, and other sound effects filter into the back with enjoyable, though hardly precise, immersion. The track is dotted with several moments of heightened vigor and surround implementation. Comical electric pulses zap through the stage when Joe and Doug attempt to revive a boy they believe to be dying in the hospital. Late in the film during the championship game, surround activity enjoys another spike. Public address announcements nicely filter through he stage. A character accidentally flies through the stadium with comical sonic accompaniment. Fireworks pop with pleasing presence. All of these effects lack the pinpoint distinction one might find in today's tracks, but the almost comical over-saturation suits the movie well. Dialogue is clear and precise with solid prioritization and consistent front-center placement.

BASEketball Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

BASEketball contains three vintage extras. No top menu is included; all supplements must be accessed in-film via the pop-up menu.

• Spotlight on Location (480i, 10:07): A surprisingly drab piece that looks at project origins, casting Matt and Trey, story development and improvisation, making various scenes, a milestone celebrated on set, editing, and more.
• Music Video (480i, 3:43).
• Theatrical Trailer (480i, 2:15).

BASEketball Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

BASEketball offers a funny spin on the classic Sports film by reinventing two of the more popular sports in the world but nevertheless keeping up with all the clichés and working in plenty of classic sports moments and sports world cameos along the way. It still plays well today, and its central story of the extreme monetization of sports seems more relevant today than when the film released almost two decades ago. It's nowhere near as memorable as some of the other Sports comedies out there, but it remains a fun little movie watching experience. Universal's Blu-ray, on the other hand, doesn't impress all that much. Video is dated, as is audio, and the supplements are few and simple carryovers from the DVD era. Fans may as well pick it up on the cheap, but it's not worth more than a few dollars.