Celtic Pride (
1996The year 1996 in film involved some significant events. Major releases this year included Fargo, Trainspotting, The English Patient, Independence Day, Twister, Scream, Jerry Maguire and Madonna's Evita.-Events:...
) is a
comedyComedy as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse generally intended to amuse, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in Ancient Greece...
filmFilm encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects....
written by
Judd ApatowJudd Apatow is an American film producer, director, and screenwriter. He is well-known for making a distinct series of critically and commercially successful comedy films, including The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, and Funny People...
and
Colin QuinnColin Quinn is an Irish-American stand-up comedian and writer, best known for his five years in the cast of Saturday Night Live, as co-host of MTV's wildly popular late-1980's gameshow Remote Control and as host of Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn on Comedy Central from 2002-2004.-Early years:Colin...
and directed by Tom DeCerchio. It features
Daniel SternDaniel Jacob Stern is an American actor of film and television. He is known for his roles in the Hollywood films C.H.U.D., City Slickers and the first two Home Alone films, and as the narrator for the television series The Wonder Years.-Early life:Stern was born in Bethesda, Maryland to a social...
and
Dan AykroydDaniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is an Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning Canadian-American comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist...
as Mike O'Hara and Jimmy Flaherty, two passionate
Boston CelticsThe Boston Celtics are a professional basketball club based in Boston, Massachusetts, playing in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team is owned by Wycliffe Grousbeck and coached by Doc Rivers, with Danny Ainge as the President of...
fans and
Damon WayansDamon Kyle Wayans is an American stand-up comedian, writer and actor, known as one of the popular Wayans brothers.-Early life:...
as Lewis Scott, the
Utah JazzThe Utah Jazz are a professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. They are currently members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
's All-Star
shooting guardThe shooting guard , also known as the two or off guard, is one of five traditional positions on a basketball team. Players of the position are often shorter, leaner, and quicker than forwards. A shooting guard's main objective is to score points for his team...
.
Best friends for life, gym teacher Mike O'Hara and plumber Jimmy Flaherty are united by their love of Boston and its sports teams, especially the Boston Celtics, who are playing their last season in the old
Boston GardenThe Boston Garden was a famous arena which opened November 17, 1928 in Boston, Massachusetts. Designed by boxing promoter Tex Rickard, who also built the third incarnation of New York's Madison Square Garden, the arena was originally called the "Boston Madison Square Garden", but eventually got...
.
Celtic Pride (
1996The year 1996 in film involved some significant events. Major releases this year included Fargo, Trainspotting, The English Patient, Independence Day, Twister, Scream, Jerry Maguire and Madonna's Evita.-Events:...
) is a
comedyComedy as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse generally intended to amuse, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in Ancient Greece...
filmFilm encompasses individual motion pictures, the field of film as an art form, and the motion picture industry. Films are produced by recording images from the world with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects....
written by
Judd ApatowJudd Apatow is an American film producer, director, and screenwriter. He is well-known for making a distinct series of critically and commercially successful comedy films, including The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, and Funny People...
and
Colin QuinnColin Quinn is an Irish-American stand-up comedian and writer, best known for his five years in the cast of Saturday Night Live, as co-host of MTV's wildly popular late-1980's gameshow Remote Control and as host of Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn on Comedy Central from 2002-2004.-Early years:Colin...
and directed by Tom DeCerchio. It features
Daniel SternDaniel Jacob Stern is an American actor of film and television. He is known for his roles in the Hollywood films C.H.U.D., City Slickers and the first two Home Alone films, and as the narrator for the television series The Wonder Years.-Early life:Stern was born in Bethesda, Maryland to a social...
and
Dan AykroydDaniel Edward "Dan" Aykroyd, CM is an Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winning Canadian-American comedian, actor, screenwriter, musician, winemaker and ufologist...
as Mike O'Hara and Jimmy Flaherty, two passionate
Boston CelticsThe Boston Celtics are a professional basketball club based in Boston, Massachusetts, playing in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association . The team is owned by Wycliffe Grousbeck and coached by Doc Rivers, with Danny Ainge as the President of...
fans and
Damon WayansDamon Kyle Wayans is an American stand-up comedian, writer and actor, known as one of the popular Wayans brothers.-Early life:...
as Lewis Scott, the
Utah JazzThe Utah Jazz are a professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. They are currently members of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association...
's All-Star
shooting guardThe shooting guard , also known as the two or off guard, is one of five traditional positions on a basketball team. Players of the position are often shorter, leaner, and quicker than forwards. A shooting guard's main objective is to score points for his team...
.
Plot
Best friends for life, gym teacher Mike O'Hara and plumber Jimmy Flaherty are united by their love of Boston and its sports teams, especially the Boston Celtics, who are playing their last season in the old
Boston GardenThe Boston Garden was a famous arena which opened November 17, 1928 in Boston, Massachusetts. Designed by boxing promoter Tex Rickard, who also built the third incarnation of New York's Madison Square Garden, the arena was originally called the "Boston Madison Square Garden", but eventually got...
. So when the Celtics drop Game 6 of the NBA Finals to the Utah Jazz, setting up a deciding Game 7 in Boston, Mike and Jimmy find themselves depressed and hopeless. On top of all this, Mike has moved back in with Jimmy after his wife Carol, fed up with his unhealthy obsession with the Celtics, left him and took their son Tommy with her. Despondent after the Celtic loss in Game 6, a loss engineered by the Jazz's selfish, one-man-show shooting guard Lewis Scott, Jimmy and Mike stumble upon Scott at a Boston nightclub. Hoping at first to get him drunk enough so he'll be hungover for Game 7, Mike and Jimmy pose as Utah fans. However, the pair get more than they bargained for when they end up kidnapping Scott after he wakes up at Jimmy's apartment the next morning. Mike and Jimmy decide to hold Scott until after the game, reasoning that if they are going to prison, they might as well help the Celtics win in the meantime.
Scott's streetwise, arrogant ways contrast with Jimmy and Mike's bumbling blue-collar lifestyle. He derides them for being washed-up losers, and insinuates Mike is only after him because he is jealous of Scott's fame and ability. Mike, on the other hand, berates Scott for his behavior on and off the court, including starring in a campy
Oscar MayerOscar Mayer is an American meat and cold cut production company, owned by Kraft Foods, known for its hot dogs, bologna, bacon and Lunchables products.-History:...
hot dog commercial and skipping practices. Scott attempts to turn Jimmy against Mike, and, when this fails, escapes, only to be foiled by an antagonistic cabbie and a local cop, Kevin (
Paul GuilfoylePaul Guilfoyle is an American television and film actor. He is currently a regular cast member of the hit forensic television drama CSI where he plays Captain Jim Brass.-Early life:...
), both fellow Celtics fans.
Ultimately, Mike challenges Scott to a game of one-on-one and the pair is incapacitated well before the final game is set to begin. Before he runs off, Scott presents the pair with a dilemma, they must root for him and hope the Jazz win, otherwise he will turn them both in to the police. Mike reconciles with his wife and son, knowing he might be going to prison, and Jimmy says goodbye to his grandmother. At the game, the two convince the other Celtics fans they are only pretending to root for the Jazz, and the first half ends with the Celtics leading 52-38. Mike, who knows the Jazz are losing because Scott refuses to pass the ball, gives him a pep talk from the stands, and Utah closes the gap to one point with a little over 7 seconds remaining. With one play left and the Jazz with the ball, Mike and Jimmy choose life over the Celtics, rooting for Utah and rushing the court after they win. Approached by Kevin who earlier ignored his cries for help, Lewis denies Mike and Jimmy committed the kidnapping, saving them from prison.
A few months later, Mike has promised his wife he would never interfere with an NBA Finals game again. But now it's football season. He and Jimmy sneak into the hotel room of
Deion SandersDeion Luwynn Sanders is a former National Football League cornerback, Major League Baseball outfielder, and is currently an NFL Network commentator. He carries the nicknames "Prime Time" and "Neon Deion"....
at 3:00 a.m. And they don't want his autograph.