The refreshingly un-PC Lady Ballers features big laughs aimed at hot-topic issues, yet more editing and less in-jokes were needed to make this pointed sports comedy cut deeper.

The latest film from conservative outlet The Daily Wire is a family affair. Directed and starring the media brands’ co-CEO Jeremy Boreing, Lady Ballers also features appearances from its line-up of presenters including Matt Walsh, Brett Cooper, and Ben Shapiro. Those who are fans of their work will find their roles – especially the famously begrudged Walsh as a long-haired new-age wokester – a hoot. Others might get lost on the in-joke.

Thankfully, there is enough to laugh at in Lady Ballers to make it not only a ballsy (pun intended) comedy but an entertaining one as well. Skewering the troubling trend of men competing in women’s sports, Lady Ballers takes on a Zucker brothers (Airplane!) meets the Farrelly brothers (There’s Something About Mary) approach to its comedy: sometimes juvenile, sometimes offensive, yet often funny.

Lady Ballers centres on Rob Gibson (Jeremy Boreing), a once hot-shot high-school basketball coach who is now an irrelevant and divorced mess. When Rob’s 12-year-old daughter Winnie (Rosie Seraphine Harper) informs her shocked father about the brave-new-world of gender identity and fluidity, Rob conducts a scheme to have his old high-school basketball team identify as women and dominate the female league.

At almost 120 minutes, Lady Ballers could have easily cut 30 minutes or so from its runtime to make it a more potent comedy. Too many repetitive gags, confusing sub-plots, and distracting cameos (looking at you, Ted Cruz) distract rather than enhance the films main narrative while also creating problems with pace.

Where Boreing and his merry band of conservative disruptors do succeed with Lady Ballers is in the style and tone of comedy; a blend of physical comedy and well-written quips on issues surrounding gender identity and its impact on sports, the media, and pop culture. Scenes of women-identifying-males laying waste to female sports competitors especially works in an “its funny because its true” context, as does the skewering of trans-personalities such as Dylan Mulvaney and his Bud-Light destroying ways.

While not the slam-dunk that it could have been, Lady Ballers scores points for its testicular fortitude and Boreing’s ability to bring the funny to a controversial issue. Sharper focus and a better executed gameplan will be needed, however, if Daily Wire aim to bring the funny again.