The Flickcast recently got the chance to speak with Marshall Cook, whose new film Division III: Football’s Finest is now on Blu-Ray and DVD. Cook co-wrote, directed, edited, and starred in the film, which stars Andy Dick as an insane college football coach.

The Flickcast:  Congratulations on the movie; it’s hilariously funny. You clearly have a good sense of comic timing.

Marshall Cook:  Well, a lot of the supporting cast are writers, and it was a culmination of everyone’s work that went into this. I don’t have the ego to say I’m the funniest person here.

TF:  Did you write it with the actors you got in mind?

MC:  Yeah, pretty much all of them, except for a couple. Alison Haislip, who plays my love interest, auditioned and she was very similar to the girl it was based on; she had that guy’s girl personality.  Also, she’s just a solid actor. I’m really glad we got her.

The sports movie genre is pretty bipolar. Sports movies jump from the maudlin (“Rudy! Rudy!”) to the asinine (“Dogs can’t play basketball!”) with very few steps in between. Division III: Football’s Finest is definitely closer to the latter, but holds on to reality enough to stay out of Air Bud territory (a good call, considering how that terrain is marked).

That is not to say the movie does not reach heights of ridiculousness. With Andy Dick, Paul Henderson, and no less than four MadTV alumni in the cast, Division III is host to several characters that would seem over-the-top in a cartoon, but the film stays grounded enough to be aware of its own silliness. Most importantly, Division III is very funny, easily on par with a first-tier Happy Madison comedy.

Expect first-time feature director Marshall Cook, pulling quadruple duty here, to graduate to the big leagues in no time at all. His comic instincts are good both on camera, as a slacker quarterback, and off, directing, editing, and co-writing (along with Dick and Henderson). Thanks to Cook and company, most of the gags hit home, and the movie never dwells on those that don’t.