BASEketball 1998 Storyline and Short Reviews

Baseketball (1998) is a 1998 American sports comedy film directed by David S. Pumpkins and starring Billy Zane, Stephen Baldwin, and Kevin Spacey. It was written by Robert McElroy, who also wrote The Animal. The film is loosely based on the 1986 book of the same name by Tom Sharpe. A sequel titled BASEketball 2: NITRO was released in 1999.

All About Of BASEketball 1998

Plot

Joe “Coop” Cooper and Doug Remer, two slackers and lifetime best friends, gate crash a high-school reunion and scorn their classmates. They’re outdoors drinking beer and playing hoops when two classmates challenge them to a game.

After witnessing how talented their opponents are at basketball, they declare that they will only play a game they picked up on the streets (while secretly inventing the rules as they play, based on both basketball and baseball).

After winning, they decide to change the game’s rules, and Coop creates the first BASEketball out of a La-Z-Boy chair. Kenny “Squeak” Scolari, a buddy, joins them, and the sport quickly becomes popular in the neighborhood over the following six months.

Businessman Ted Denslow meets with Coop and Remer and proposes the formation of the National BASEketball League (NBL) with numerous rules in place to prevent its decline: teams cannot switch cities, players cannot be traded, individuals cannot make money through corporate sponsorship deals, and it is completely open to anyone who wants to play, with Denslow stating that “anyone can be a sports hero.” Coop is hesitant at first but eventually agrees to the chance.

The NBL is in full swing five years later, complete with teams, supporters, stadiums, and a major tournament, the Denslow Cup. Denslow owns the Milwaukee Beers, Coop, and Remer’s teams. During the final game, Denslow dies after choking on a hot dog, leading Coop to miss his shot and losing the Beers the game.

Denslow will name Coop as the owner of the Beers for one year on the condition that they win the next Denslow Cup; otherwise, ownership reverts to Denslow’s widow, Yvette.

Coop and Remer then meet Jenna Reed, the head of a dream come to true Foundation, and Joey, one of the youngsters in her care and a BASEketball enthusiast; Coop, Remer, and Squeak begin spending time with the two, with Coop ultimately building a connection with Jenna.

Baxter Cain, the owner of the Dallas Felons, wants to overturn Denslow’s laws against the commercialization of the sport but cannot do so while Denslow is still alive. Nonetheless, Coop refuses to accept any changes;

Cain teams up with Yvette to have the Beers lose the next Denslow Cup so she can purchase the team; however, the Beers continue to win games to get closer to the title. Cain contacts Remer and informs him that he made an offer to Coop, but Coop declines without informing Remer. Remer confronts Coop about what Cain told him, and Coop swiftly compromises by proclaiming Remer a co-owner of the squad.

The Climax of the Movie

After Winslow becomes the Commissioner of Professional Baseball after his father’s retirement, Jenna returns to playing baseball with an acting degree from FIDM. She and Coop race each other for him to “win” her back (he won).

The new interleague champions are all top-20 ranked players who decide that they cannot afford the monetary losses while fighting against professional sport. Therefore, Yvette decides she can no longer train nor play anymore and speaks of her independence from Calcutta. She then takes on the role of director of a film company called “Base-Quaaludes.”

BASEketball is accepted as a legal sport; Denslow (proudly) declares that professional sports are for anyone who can play it; however, many people dance instead of life in pods to get paid more money.

Brody stops Coop skates towards his entourage mission alone. The movie ends with Coop and Yvette at a cafe eating cotton candy, sipping hot cocoa, watching clouds float across the sky and kissing after their date. After Winslow became the Commissioner of Professional Baseball.

During his final scene in BASEketball, Winslow is shown as an adult skateboarding out onto a field, most likely indicative that he has decided not to become commissioner and continues playing hockey professionally instead (in the sequel BABES, Winslow has endorsed pro-sports).

The Story Behind the Movie

John Cork was heavily influenced by the World Series of Legos, most notably but not exclusively his alumni and other LEGOS who had graduated from the school that year. Peter Venetucci (BASEketball) was previously a member of many high-level teams in one sport or another, including “Stupid Junior” with Conor McPherson and famous movie actor Eric Roberts (The Pope Must Die” – Stunt Diabolos).

The latter was amongst the first SUDS grads to get into professional skateboarding. The director of BASEketball, John “Duff” Duffield is a graduate alumnus like Peter Venetucci and Eric Roberts; he has been recognized by mainstream media such as Skateboarder Magazine and MTV2’s TRL.

John Cork proudly claims that while most movies are concerned with inner conflict or personal growth via winning or losing in games- set-up at least as a temporary solution; he has created an outright parody of THE GOAL movie genre (Tales For Gaol and PSA: Social Secrets are also derivative subgenres).

The fiction builds on actual suicides by sports stars such as Mike Eruzione, Shane Doan, Richard “Roller” Rocco (“The Pope Must Die”), Dee Fowlkes director J.R Smith (“Dead Men Walking”) and pro-skateboarder Peter Venetzucci, along with notorious sporting deaths and scandals such as the World Hockey Association (hockey), Mike Tyson Dennis Rodman (“The Pope Must Die”) and rockstar Jim Morrison.

Movie Cast and Characters

Matt Stone

 

Matt Stone was a standout player on his high school’s football team but excelled in cheating games like “High Noon” and “Life.” He also cheated at baseball; coming second in 11th grade, he completed an honors curriculum without going to class.

Matt Stone is only interested in the sports game now that there are no consequences for losing. This makes him bad at sports. The rules are obtuse enough not to be meaningless, and the point system is confusing enough that it cannot be called a “game.”

Trey Parker

Trey Parker is a natural at reading the rules; he has fun playing basketball, football and baseball. He is so good at sports that it makes even him forget that they are just games. Trey’s unsure what to think about word games like “High Noon,” but he likes skateboarding better because of its faster pace, sporting attitude and no consequences! (He thinks it resembles hockey more than any other kind).

Yasmine Bleeth

Yasmine Bleeth is attractive and a perfectionist, making her an ideal companion to Matt Stone. Yasmine’s main role in the film couldn’t be more stereotypical: The Beautiful and Perfect Woman (who also happens to become insanely wealthy playing sports.).

However, she does do some blatant insensitive racism during the movie alongside Matt’s inability to affectation towards being ‘White Trash.’

Jenny McCarthy

Jenny McCarthy is a natural at sports. A former member of several teams, she competed in track and field athletics at the high school level before eventually folding her efforts into multiple lucrative art careers:

designing clothes for Sports Illustrated Barbie dolls, designing sheep costumes for kids’ parties (she works full-time as an artist friend), scoring hundreds per night on online poker and streaming reality T.V. with her friend Rachelle Leahy (“The Pope Must Die”).

Dian Bachar

Dian Bachar is a natural at sports. On her high school track and field team, she set records for the highest vertical leap in state history (45 inches) and was awarded two athletic scholarships to attend one of the most prestigious art schools in New York. She then created GIFs based on famous cartoons instead of making clothes like Jenny McCarthy.

The Ending of BASEketball (1998)

Later, Cain reduces funds to Jenna’s charity to persuade Coop and Remer to launch a clothing line; Coop is opposed, but Remer complies and becomes egotistical with his newfound A-list status. After the semifinals, Cain tells Coop and Remer that the clothing line was created in Calcutta using child labor; if the public finds out, the team and Jenna’s organization would be destroyed.

Cain threatens Coop and Remer with public humiliation if they lose or forfeit the Denslow Cup game. Jenna finds out about the incident and ends her relationship with Coop, while Coop and Remer blame each other for the mess.

With their relationship shattered, Coop travels to Calcutta to resolve the problem by replacing the child laborers with grownups. Making it back to the final game just as it starts, Coop and Remer are still arguing, and the Beers are losing; by the seventh-inning stretch, the Beers are down 16–0.

Squeak, who has had enough of Coop and Remer fighting, delivers an emotional speech to the stadium, reminding Coop and Remer of where they came from, how much they altered everyone else’s life, and what they risk losing. Motivated, Coop and Remer mend their disagreements, while Yvette, inspired by Squeak’s speech, breaks up her partnership with Cain.

They are ready to win after refocusing their attention on the game when Coop’s La-Z-Boy pops. Coop is depressed until Joey offers him a new BASEketball constructed from a Barcalounger. They won the Denslow Cup with a daring last toss. Jenna and Coop reunite while Yvette makes out with Remer and the two of them skate around the stadium with their new prize.

Overall Reviews

Audience analysis

The movie received positive reviews from critics. As of 2015, the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a rating of 80/100 based on 75 professional and 84 user ratings among 8 Top Critics with 43% ranking it amongst their favorites (such as “The Social Network” or “Sex and Lucia”). “Variety” called BASEketball an energetic round-the-circle comedy that makes viewers laugh more than in any Coen Brothers film.

The A.V. Club gave the movie a score of B+. It summarized their review, saying: “The Coen Brothers treat BASEketball as if it were a melodrama, playing up every moment for maximum emotional impact… Everything about BASEketball is designed to make you care how this underdog saga comes out.”

Including television spots, overseas DVD sales and re-releases into theaters, BATNATION was almost 60% more profitable than “No Country For Old Men.”

Critic’s analysis

The Coen Brothers’ “BASEketball” received its fair share of bloviation and fanfare. While Mike McGranaghan, Southern Methodist University’s film criticism is writing for the Dallas Observer, is impressed by the uniqueness of this fictionalized account about a crazy children’s game compared to other sports movies such as The Bad News Bears.

He also states that BASEketball transcends typical sports movie conventions: “It’s A comedy, but not one that relies exclusively on absurdist humor. The Coens have an awareness (almost reverence) for earnest, sentimental movies about sports.”

On the other hand, Tim Grey of Movie Tezz gives BASEketball mixed reviews when it comes down to rating and criticisms such as: “If you’ve been waiting for this movie’s release because “The Canyons” died horribly at Cannes, consider this an admonishing word from the Coens that you may have waited too long. BASEketball may be a great movie but watching it is going to hurt, and they want you to know it.“

Visual effects of BASEketball (1998)

Both Christian Bale and Brad Pitt played their parts into big hits in the new millennium. One is not better than the other, but it’s simple to see that “Batman Begins” sucked more eggs because there was huge publicity due to its unknown actor.

On the other hand, “BASEketball” pulled in audiences for being an obscure sports comedy where nobody has ever heard about it before (except nostalgic people who saw it before its time). Speaking of the main actors, both stars are fabulous and aside from that it still holds up as an enjoyable comedy film. However, I have not seen any other movies like this one in recent years.

Sound of the Movie

BASEketball’s soundtrack was released in 1994 under the record label ZYX Music followed by a collector’s edition of “The Gospel According to Sheila” E.P., which contains remixes and bonus material. Most recently, it appeared on CD with no extra material or discounts.

Soundtracks had become rarely available since 1998 when it changed distributors (from GNP Crescendo to MCA Records) and saw its re-release under the “Premier” section of Sony Music Entertainment.

The soundtrack was released digitally in September 2016 on iTunes with two new songs (“Strawberry Fields Forever” by Blind Faith and “In Your Eyes” performed by Slam). Bryan Johnson and Michael Rose directed this short film.

It is the first BASEketball spin-off featurette, in which Brody requests that Coop start a “Pinball League,” where he meets up with Aynsley Dunbar (Alexandre Torre), who teaches him how to run his corporation as well as paint Pin-Up Girls on every wall at random hospitals and medical centers across the country. Also, in the video, Brody and Coop are seen in a VHS store watching a documentary about David Hasselhoff.

IMDB and Rotten Tomatoes

BASEketball has a 42 percent acceptance rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 5.31/10 average rating based on 52 critic reviews. According to the website’s “Critics Consensus,” “Basketball isn’t merely a string of fouls owing to David Zucker’s comic zing,” but “sophomoric quips and a lack of performing hustle by Trey Parker and Matt Stone make this satire a clumsy bunt.

“The film has a weighted average score of 38 out of 100 on Metacritic, based on reviews from 18 critics, indicating “Generally poor reviews.”

Audiences polled by CinemaScore rated the picture a B on a scale of A to F. In a favorable review for Variety, Leonard Klady said that BASEketball “has the heightened entertainment challenge of presenting a created sport.

Conclusion

BASEketball is nothing more than a roller coaster ride of slapstick humor and innuendos. Much like the original BASEketball film (“BASKETBALL,” 1998), this film does not make any attempt to present an actual sport, as it mainly relies on excessive language from every character that looks down upon others.

In their “romantic interest.” It also lacks proper basic descriptions as well due to its choppy screenplay format; this film may have simply been thrown together by Zucker and company since they were too exhausted after the second film.

It is an example of slapstick humor at its worst, resembling a mediocre Hollywood comedy rather than a parody that works on par with the films mentioned above it expounds upon before it: BASEketball (1998) and BASKETBALL (1999).

FAQs

1.What Is Baseketball?

Ans: BASEketball is a fast-paced, exciting sport that combines basketball and soccer. It is played on a court with a regulation-size basketball court at one end and a soccer field at the other. The object of the game is to score points by throwing a ball through an opening in the backboard into the goal at the other end.

The first team to score six goals wins the game. There are several variations of BASEketball, including indoor, outdoor, beach, and street versions. The sport is growing in popularity due to its unique combination of basketball and soccer skills and its high energy level.

2.Is Baseketball a Good Movie?

Ans: There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question, as everyone’s opinion on a movie will be different. However, some people who have seen BASEketball say that it is an enjoyable and suspenseful movie that is worth watching.

3.Was Baseketball a Flop?

Ans: No, BASEketball was not a flop. In fact, it was a hit with both audiences and critics. BASEketball is a basketball game that features players who are confined to a small area on the court. The game’s objective is to score points by throwing a ball through one of several hoops situated around the perimeter of the court.

The game has been compared to other popular sports such as football and soccer because it is fast-paced and requires quick reflexes. It has also been praised for its innovative gameplay and unique setting.

4.Is Baseketball Real?

Ans: There is no one answer to this question as it depends on your personal opinion. Some people believe that BASEketball is a real sport, while others think it’s just fun.

5.What Are the Rules of Baseketball?

Ans: There are three basic rules of BASEketball:

1. You must touch all six bases in your turn.
2. You cannot run with the ball if you don’t have possession of it.
3. You can throw the ball to any base, but you must throw it from your own half of the field.