Will Ferrell Retroactively Flirts With Death…

… well, by way of his body-double, at least. I haven’t seen Semi-Pro, but I do not find it in the least bit surprising that a Will Ferrell film about basketball contains what in any other film would be an unnecessary bear-wrestling scene. My assumption is that in and of itself this scene hardly warrants discussion; that is, until last Thursday when that very same bear that wrestled with Ferrell’s body-double killed his trainer. What this means is that in a very indirect way, Will Ferrell put his own life on the line to make a film as disposable as Semi-Pro. I know what you’re thinking: while the bear presented a very real danger on the set, Ferrell himself was never in harm’s way. Well, suppose for a moment the bear’s pyschological breakdown took place on the set rather than months after shooting. It would follow that the bear would likely look to take out his aggression on the immediate object of his frustration (i.e., the jackass who keeps wrestling with him). Failing that, his next recourse might be to seek out someone very similar in appearance. Why that would have been no good for Mr. Ferrell, no?

Now, I don’t want to linger on the actual tragedy that occurred last week, so let’s leave behind that element of the situation and tackle this from a slightly different perspective: how Will Ferrell’s films are becoming an affront to nature and, in a greater sense, God. The universe has a funny way of encoding messages and I believe this recent tragedy can be read as follows: Mr. Ferrell, stop making the same film over and over or more will die! Yes, I’m sure the money is good. But he’s got to be set for life financially by now, it’s time to start exploring the concept of artistic integrity which, contrary to popular belief, does still exist in the comedy genre.

The “integrity route” has only been sporadically present in Ferrell’s career. Ever since the enormous success of Anchorman (which, by the way, also contained a bear-wrestling scene) and, to a lesser extent, Old School (no bears there, unless you count Ferrell’s bare ass), Ferrell’s been more or less phoning it in. Now and then he would appear in a legitimate film like Winter Passing (which found him once again starring opposite the supremely sexy Zooey Deschanel) and the flawed, but genuinely intriguing Stranger Than Fiction. Those films utilized the zany elements of his persona, but placed him in less of an oddball, anything-goes environment, thereby giving his wackiness depth and context. But for the most part, Ferrell’s films operate much like a sledgehammer to perfectly timed comedy. Jacques Tati he is most certainly not. Which isn’t to say that his films aren’t funny or that they contain no value whatsoever, but the comedy is in danger of being eclipsed by his massive persona; and that is a bad thing. It means that his films are less about the humor and more about bringing in an audience by virtue of Ferrell’s presence alone.

I realize that this is a joke, but in a way, I could totally see this film getting made for these reasons. It marks a point-of-no-return where Ferrell must decide whether to continue onward and become more akin to a clunky prop in films, eventually sinking into comedic irrelevance much like Adam Sandler and Mike Myers, or go the way of Bill Murray who, by taking on less obvious roles, has propelled himself into the realm of comic immortality. Worst case scenario, his attempt to be taken seriously will land him in the same position as Robin Williams… hmmm. Now that I think about it, that scenario has the potential to undo all existence.

Tags: Bears, Existential Crisis, Mortality, Will Ferrell