Will Ferrell was a clueless race driver in "Talladega Nights" and a clueless ice skater in "Blades of Glory." In "Semi-Pro," his latest comedy, he's a clueless basketball player. Since Ferrell has shown that he can handle less predictable fare, it's a little disappointing to see him repeat himself. On the other hand, who can blame the guy for sticking with a formula that has been golden at the box office?

Actually, Ferrell as Jackie Moon is more than a player in "Semi-Pro." He's also the owner and coach of the Flint, Mich., Tropics, a rag-tag squad that he bought with proceeds from a suggestive disco tune that was his only hit as a singer. It's 1976 and the Tropics are in the American Basketball Association, which is about to be merged into the more established National Basketball Association.

The deal is that the NBA will absorb only the top four ABA teams. If the basement-dwelling Tropics hope to be included, they will need two things that are conspicuously missing: fans and victories. Moon can handle the fans; he's vastly better as a promoter than a coach. For the victories, he acquires a past-his-prime NBA player named Ed Monix. Played more or less straight by Woody Harrelson, Monix predictably rallies the team and leads it in a run to make the NBA cut.

In a subplot that's never really fleshed out, Monix begs a former girlfriend to give him a second chance. She's played by Maura Tierney, one of those reliable screen actresses whose face is better known than her name.

The trouble with "Semi-Pro" is that its parts don't add up to a satisfying whole. It's a sports parody, an inspirational underdog tale and a love story, all sort of smushed together. There's also a low-budget look to the movie, though that could be because Flint isn't among the world's scenic wonderlands and because the Tropics are a low-budget operation (Monix was traded for the team's washing machine).

All that said, "Semi-Pro" is still funny. Not side-splitting funny -- except for a really obscene poker game and a disastrous roller-skating stunt -- but consistently amusing. Aside from the antics of Ferrell, there are rich comic turns by Jackie Earle Haley as a stoner fan and Will Arnett and Andrew Daly as the team announcers.

Unlike the team it portrays, "Semi-Pro" probably will be a winner commercially. Ferrell's fans are legion and loyal. Still, it'd be nice to see him go for a 3-pointer instead of relying on the easy layup.