User reviews

When first being sent this film for Christmas by a few family friends it didn't really strike me as the type of film that i should devote my time to watching, (never judge a book by its cover) , as i always do when doing History work for my upcoming GCSE's i decide to watch a film. Normally this is Shawshank or Pulp fiction or a classic of that nature. Yesterday i decided to crack open Blackball, and i wasn't disappointed. Paul Kay provides in my view his personally career topping performance with a great portrayal as Cliff Starky, with most surprisingly Johnny Vegas pulling of a decent film role. This portrayal of bowls brings a witty, humorous and overall shining side to the sport of bowls and shows that some sports need to escape from their stereotypical, pod so to speak. Vince Vaughn provides a great supporting feature to the film with witty comments and great dialect to bring to live the humour of the film. The film also adds a bit of spice with Alice Evans giving a solid at times attractive performance as Kerry speight and helps the film run smoothly. I feel the real star of the show was James Cromwell who really put this film up from a 2-3 to a 7 showing his experience as and actor and portraying Ray speight perfectly. All together i feel this is a great watch lacking a fantastic plot with witty good humoured fun and at times a very good laugh. I highly recommend you at least give this British film (my proud country :) a try :).

A very funny British sporting comedy from Mel Smith (Bean, High Heels and Low lifes), which involves a similar sport, and in turn could be deemed as Torquay's answer to "Kingpin" - its certainly as crazy and entertaining.

Torquay painter and decorator, and local loser - Cliff Starkey (Paul Kaye – aka British TV's Dennis Pennis) has a talent - it may not be wallpapering but he has a talent - and that talent is crown green bowls. His uncle (Bernard Cribbins of `Carry On' fame) dragged him along as a youngster every time he played, and with the knowledge of the sport drummed into him along with the games he played with his uncle in order to "stop him going mental" Cliff soon becomes a master of the bowling green.

One problem - The local bowls club can't stand him. One member inparticaular - 15 year running bowls champion, and president, snobby Ray Speight (James Cromwell – LA Confidential, The Green Mile) has a particular dislike of Cliff, he comes from the wrong side of the tracks and strikes up a "friendship" with his daughter (Alice Evans – 102 Dalmatians).

But Cliff's obvious talent surfaces and soon a slimy American agent (Vince Vaughn - Swingers) takes Cliff under his wing and using his TV connections, bowls becomes the biggest and most lucrative sporting attraction since the Premiership – with Cliff becoming the `David Beckham' of bowls. Can he handle the pressure?, Can he inspire the England bowling team to victory over the `undeafeatble' Australian Doohan brothers?, will his `portly' lifelong friend and newly appointed bodyguard Trevor (Johnny Vegas – TV's Happiness) stop clearing out the catering stand? – Watch it and find out, it's well worth an hour and a half of your time.

8 out of 10 for the kind of film it is. Its not intelligent, gritty or groundbreaking but as a standard underdog versus the top dogs kinda film, it holds up well. Lots of funny moments and a decent cast. Don't be put off by the poor reviews, just make sure you watch it at the right time and in the right mood.

Ok, so this isn't going to be hailed the new The Full Monty, and doesn't have the romantic edge of Four Weddings And A Funeral, and it may not even have the charm of Bend It Like Beckham, but Blackball is an amusing, sometimes laugh-out-loud tale of the underdog winning through in the end.

Paul Kaye (more famous for his role of Dennis Pennis) plays Cliff, a guy living on a run-down estate but who has a talent for Crown Green Bowls, a sport more recognised for the older generation. But when a team from Australia are storming in the bowls arena, Cliff decides that his only way of getting to play them, is to win a bowls contest for the County Championship, a competition won 23 times in a row by Roy (James Cromwell). Of course he wins, but loses the championship and the chance to bowl for 15 years in professional competition due to a rule that Cliff broke.

The rise to fame is helped by a sleazy sports agent (Vince Vaughn) and Cliff becomes the bad boy of bowls. He also falls for Roy's daughter (Alice Evan s) and in his rise to the big time, almost loses everything that he holds dear to him, from his Grandad (Bernard Cribbins), his best friend (Johnny Vegas) and his girl.

This isn't going to win any major awards and may be forgotten about six months down the road, but it's an undemanding piece of comedy cinema that will have you chuckling all the way through. Nice performances from all involved, and a great soundtrack too.

Run of the mill sports comedy film. You've seen the plot before a thousand times, mega talented but unruly sportsman gets a crack at the big-time and a dull rom-com love interest sub-plot fills the gaps. The film has no build up or background it's just, bang, straight into the story from the first shot which seemed very odd. The main character played by Paul Kay is arrogant and annoying when, as he is the underdog, he really he should be endearing, this distroys the whole point of the film. But my main gripe is that film simply isn't funny, I barely raised a chuckle throughout the entire film. The film is a complete turkey. Even the brilliant Jonny Vegas couldn't save it. Avoid.

Just watched a dvd rip of blackballs, never even heard of the sport of bowls until about 2 hours ago. I gave it a 6, probably the same rating i gave happy gilmore, as it is the British version basically.

Good movie to rent or buy used/cheap.

I had expected a fun, simple sports comedy when I saw this. Instead I got a lazy, unfunny, god awful piece of film. Blackball makes a lot of assumptions of it audience, going beyond 'suspension of disbelief' to simply not trying. The love interest effectively appears out of nowhere, falling for the 'hero' at first sight, as he yells at her teenage pupils! The villain is bog-standard 'snob' to the hero's 'slob' but thats what a sport's comedy is, so not a problem. The problem is the young, wild bowler is unlikeable as they come. He's effectively every Adam Sandler character thrown into one but without the redeeming qualities. His relationship with the love interest effectively consists of him being obnoxious and her swooning. It as if the writer took bullet point notes of what a sports comedy is, but forgot why those key points work. At one point there's an 'emotional' moment of victory, barely 15 minutes in, the hero having only had crushing victories. At the halfway mark, apparently the success goes to his head, alienating his loved ones etc. but his personality and actions don't change, he is as irritating and self-centred as ever! There's simply no reason to care. The hero's 'badboy' persona is so overblown and garish, it strikes as a cynical and again LAZY effort. There's a scene where his slick PR agent attempts to win him over through various insincere threats and niceties, while he remains unmoved. That is the definition of this film.

Lazy. This film's only value is as an example of how-not-to.

I picked this up from a used bin at a shop in Greenwich along with Mike Bassett England Football Manager, & smuggled it home to the States hidden in box of Whizzo chocolates. I watched it with friends chosen for twisted senses of humor, & we got quite a few laughs out of it, and although Vince Vaughn was a real low point, James Cromwell was a high point. Last week I was in Valdemart, & there it was in the remainders bin as "National Lampoon's Blackball" for $5.00. New, with a couple of different extras. That was rather odd, but hey, it's an odd movie, but I'm glad I own it, & not at all mad that I paid 7.50GBP for it. At least my copy isn't stuffed with stupid previews like most all American disc are. Thank God for region-free DVD players!!

A very good British movie which had me laughing out loud. Sometimes the story was a little unbelievable but as long as you can suspend believe for these short periods of time you will enjoy it very much. Go see it!

Right, Im not going to bore you with the intricacies of this film, as there aren't any, you've got your basic formula for a cheap sports comedy:

Enter one washed out nobody, who happens to be the don of <insert sport> Said nobody gets big breakthrough, simultaneously falling in love with some random blonde. Said blonde happens to be arch rivals relation blah blah blah

That aside, this film has the staple cheap gags, and the occasional visual gag, but, it never lifts off, sure, it'll make you laugh, but at what cost!

If your a fan of Johnny Vegas, don't bother seeing this, he is wasted in this.

Overall, a boring comedy, with cheap laughs and a blonde or two.

2/10

I hired this film from my local library having run out of decent films to watch and absolutely loved it! Yes, it's stupid, no, we don't know what she sees in him, of course bowls is the most boring game in the world. However the one liners (I'm sorry but the moment before the matrix mention is inspired) the marching band and the leopard print bra speak for themselves. The amazing talent that kept popping up was fabulous and the tension build at the end incredible (especially given the subject). It's a fantastic feel-good movie with romance, champagne, porn, cheerleaders, decorators, rebels and, of course, bowls. I'm going to go and watch it again whilst you all sulk!

this film has gotten mixed reviews and probably won't make a huge amount at the box office, which is a real shame, because although the film is not perfect it is lot better than most of the so-called comedies littering our multiplexes these days.

the genius that is Paul Kaye plays the bad-boy-made-good that takes the sport of bowls from obscurity to the front pages. ever since Dennis Pennis 'died' I've waited for Kaye to equal that comedic performance and feel that he does so here. the story has obviously been done before, lots, but i was never bored during the film, as Blackball has a great originality, and never becomes to preachy. it's because of this that the film is great FUN. Kaye is constant energy and is helped with an always-great performance by another comedy genius, Johnny Vegas.

as the film moves along it is helped by great direction, by Mel Smith, and editing, as well as a kicking soundtrack and some cool cameos from a huge US star(Vince Vaughan), and cult British figures(David Schneider and Statto). how Vaughan got involved in the project I'll never know, but he's not wasted here, in a small but funny role.

anyway, I'd thoroughly recommend going to see this at the cinema(if you're in England) and then with enough support it might get an American release date. this original comedy is a great alternative to the typical English stereotyping of most of our films.

Maybe I just do not get it, but it seems basically just unfunny, except that Vince Vaughn nearly pulls the whole thing out. When he is on the screen it is highly watchable. Most of the dialog seems mumbled, except that it is all so predictable that you do not need to hear what is actually said. This working class versus high society sports has certainly been done much better. Caddy Shack certainly comes immediately to mind, but so do most sports movies.

I generally like these National Lampoon movies, by the way. Normally no great shakes but decently amusing. This one just seems weak, dilute, uninspired--again, except for Vince Vaughn, who comes across as a giant of a comedian compared to the rest of the cast.

I think it is fair to say that National Lampoon's Blackball borrows heavily from the whole concept that made Happy Gilmore the success it was. While this was not as good or nearly as popular, it is far better than many of the recent movies National Lampoon has released lately, most recently Holiday Reunion.

Cliff Starkey (Paul Kaye) is a renegade bowler with a natural talent to make the balls do pretty much whatever he needs. He knows the trick shots and knows the game inside and out. Due to some childish pranks on his part, he is suspended from the game for 15 years so is reduced to playing only exhibitions. Thanks to Rick Schwartz (Vince Vaughn), who is something of an agent, he builds up Starkey's name as an attraction while at the same time, gets him the endorsements and appearances. Basically, he makes him famous. This is where the bowling league decides they are missing out on a lot of cash by not having him.

The movie moves towards teaming Cliff with his arch enemy in the bowling field, Ray Speight (James Cromwell) against Australia's baddest bowlers, Kyle and Mark Doohan (Mark Dymond & Mark Little). The English team of Starkey and Speight are having problems getting their heads in the game due to Starkey's press coverage of himself with Speight's daughter, Kerry (Alice Evans).

Blackball was by no means as good as Happy Gilmore was, if you are into these types of films, but it is definitely the same genre. The renegade bad boy is bringing new fans and more money to an otherwise dull sport. It is not too high on the list of great comedies, but if you like this type of humor, or National Lampoon for that matter, then it is one of their better efforts since they stopped making the Vacation movies. 6.5/10

Here is another example of a sports film trying to go down the route of comedy and, like, most of its cousins failing to be either that funny or particularly memorable. It seems strange that just over a month ago, I saw Woody Harrelson's 1996 comedy 'Kingpin' shortly after believing that there were no such films revolving around ten pin bowling but in Blackball there is a film that revolves around a sport that you could sort of forget even exists and that is Lawn Bowls. Although bowling and bowls are two completely different games yet still offer that sensation of throwing a ball down a track in order to gain you your advance to victory. This may be the only thing bowling and bowls have in common but the films Kingpin and Blackball have a lot more; and it's not pretty.

I think Blackball tries to be the Happy Gilmore (the one comic sports film I actually like) of Lawn Bowls. Blackball disregards the 'spirit' and sophistication of the sport by having some lout from a small time painting job play a game his persona isn't suited for, it's the same with Happy with Golf since he was loud and aggressive and Golf is anything but. Blackball disrupts the passage of bowls by having its star Cliff Starkey (Kaye) take to the lawn to the Rocky theme tune and even has his own little 'come out' scene (similar to the way a WWE wrestler enters before a match); the film also has the odd Mexican wave at the match in which the young instigate it and the elderly shy away from early on. While this is innovative in a way since you don't associate these images with the location, it's also trying to be funny but funny it isn't. Maybe it's because I play Golf that I could laugh and enjoy what Happy Gilmore did and that's give Golf a 90 minute facelift, a change, an 'escape' but here it feels like the writer and director have just sat down and gone out of their way at a very basic to try and make bowls stick out: "Whatever happens at a bowls match, we'll just do the opposite of." The story for Blackball is also limited in more ways than one. First; its underdog from nowhere who goes on a journey 'out of water' is a little tired – the most obvious example of this is when he arrives at a London hotel and can't believe his posh surroundings: a very blatant example of how unused he is to large rooms, clean linen and a window with a view of something other than factory chimneys.

Secondly, the whole drive for this film narrative-wise is: Australia versus England and it tries to exploit the sporting rivalry between the nations as much as possible for laughs that don't come. In the calendar year of 2003 when this was made; England had lost to Australia in a Davis Cup Tennis match in a pretty tame fashion; they'd beaten us 3-1 in a Football match in London, they'd successfully retained The Ashes at Cricket every time since 1987 and thumped us in the 2002/03 series round about the time of this film. Of course, since then we've beaten them in the Rugby World Cup final which was actually held in Australia and regained The Ashes in 2005 in what was, arguably, one of the greatest Cricket Test series of all time but the propaganda that possess the film is evidently pre-these victorious events and has since sort of become redundant as England have actually beaten Australia at a sport in genuinely important circumstances. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that the film is lacking atmosphere because of this.

Twinned with these things that stick out, the film has a very small amount of conflict. Blackball starts off like a rocket before he is disqualified for a certain reason and that's when the film becomes a little bogged down as the hero as well as the film has to restart. His affair with a rival's daughter and its demise also takes up the bulk of the film as does is friendship with Trevor (Vegas) who he just ignores too much. It's at this point when his celebrity status acts as the main gag for the film and it doesn't work at all and a great deal of hate builds up because of Cliff's immaturity and poor social skills. You might like Blackball if you're a Lawn Bowls player who gets to see the sport you play and love get turned upside down like myself, Golf and Happy Gilmore but for the majority, Blackball will be a disappointing and unfunny film that covers too much familiar ground to really enjoy.

(However I saw some customer leaving before the end of the movie.) Good movie if you keep in mind that the base of it is a absolutely boring game for people as me who do not understand so much at it. I will be sure that is also an outrageous movie for people who are really fan of that game. If you forget the subject, the jokes are not too bad, the movie start very well (good part when Paul K. is coming at the final against James C.) but unfortunately it does not keep the rhythm. A good story ending which may look a bit stupid with a lot of luck for players and reconciliation and bla bla bla... as a "good American movie with a lot of "clichés". However Blackball is a good entertainment.

If you are a comedian and starring in a film, I would have thought at some point you'd look at your own script. This obviously didnt happen with Blackball, a film so bad even Johnny Vegas isnt funny in it. If I could speak to Vince Vaughn I would say, 'Vince, i'm so sorry, please promise me you never think of starring in a British film again'. The main problem is Kayes character. He starts off as a horrible **** who you hope gets thumped or loses a bowls match or just dies. He doesnt and succeeds but carries on being a real idiot. You dont side with him, you dont see what he's done to woo the girl and you fail to like him at all. We are then supposed to support him. There are no jokes, it's slow paced and before he takes on the Aussies, you wish it had finished. They then play the Australians and the match, altho shown in highlights, feels like you've sat thru the whole match - twice. Just a poor poor film with nothing going for it but a song by Doves. I'd happily never watch any scene in this movie ever again - please don't watch it.

This film is awful, unfunny, Hollywood-style formula garbage. Quite disappointed that this is a British film - they're usually so good :( Plot - absent (forgivable if there are laughs), with stuff the writers were probably thinking was funny at the time, such as the flaming bowl a'la Jimmy Hendrix flaming guitar, but this film completely fails to raise even a thought of a thought of laughter.

Acting - as good as it can get for such a weak storyline, but James Cromwell's accent is atrocious.

Gave this a 2 as 1 is reserved for real bottom of the pile Hollywood compost. This is best of British compost, so automatically gets a 2 as the accents are much more palatable.

Well I was looking in my video shop for a 7 day rental (ie all those old films people don't want to watch any more), and was feeling quite hungover, so I didn't want to waste too much time. I grabbed this because I've always liked Paul Kaye, and can honestly say its one of the funniest films I've seen in years. I'm not usually a fan of British comedies, they tend to be a bit cheesy I think, but this was top class, I'm really surprised that no-one I know has mentioned it before.

If your a fan of bowls, then this might not be for you, as it does take the mickey out of this age old sport. I was surprised to learn that it was (loosely) based on a true story.

Some excellent cameos in it as well.

If you've not seen it, see it. If you've seen it, good.

As with American comedies, it seems the British can only attempt three types - the twee family film, the ever-similar rom-com, and the crude, rude, lewd toilet humour. This film fixes itself quite happily in the latter camp.

The story of a council estate 20-something taking the peaceful world of lawn bowls by storm in a manner usually reserved for drunken football hooligans has a whiff of Kingpin about it, not least in the jazzed-up final match (complete with neon lights, mascots and baying crowds). Like all sports movies, the film adds a romantic sub-plot, the value of friendship, a rags-to-riches-isn't-always-good theme and, of course, redemption through sportsmanship and teamwork. Like all crude comedies, this film tries to get laughs via jokes based on sex, bodily functions and swearing.

When it is most successful, this film is not concentrating on our protagonist Cliff Starkey, but on the elderly gents who find their pastime shaken up by this upstart. Whenever Cliff himself appears on screen, the next F-word isn't far behind and you know that we'll just get a series of bargain-basement gags.

The glitzy finale manages to garner a few laughs in their presentation of what is widely considered to be a dull game as a massive national event, but even here we find nothing new - the computerised statistics, the rule-changing Thunderbowl option and the half-time cheerleaders are typical examples.

You have seen this film many times before. Only this time it is packaged slightly differently. If you've seen the trailer or read the plot outline: yes, the film is exactly as you expect it to be.

Cliff Starkey comes from the rough end of Torquay but is a master bowls player considering that he refuses to set foot onto the snobbish green of Ray Speight's bowling club. When he hears that Australia's hottest young bowlers are coming to England to play England's county champions, Cliff competes and wins - but an insult to Ray gets him a ban. Things look bleak until an American sports agent steps in and makes Cliff the all new bad boy of bowls - the hottest new sport in the UK.

Despite the average reviews for this film and the fact that British comedies are often a very low standard of humour, I decided to watch this film. I was once a bowler myself as a teenager but that played no part in my relative enjoyment of this film. The plot is daft of course but that shouldn't matter as the laughs should make it easy watching; this is sort of the case, but nowhere near enough. The comedy is very broad, which isn't a problem for me; what is a problem is that I wasn't laughing anywhere near enough to support this type of humour. I did laugh but it was inconsistent.

Despite this, the film still has enough rough energy to cover it even when it isn't drawing actual laughs. It is amusing in a very basic way and I found it just about did enough to justify watching. The script could really have done more to up the humour - the dialogue is too basic whereas I really think it could have done with being more off the wall and hilarious. As it was I think it relied too heavily on the daftness of the plot and it's energy to get laughs.

In terms of energy though, Kaye does well. He is quite good but he has a problem brought about by the fact that his character is an unsympathetic idiot from start to finish. This was an issue as you really need an audience on the side of the main character if we are eventually meant to root for him. Vegas is a very funny man - but here he really needed those `off the wall' lines I referred to before; he is still funny here but only by his appearance. God knows why Vaughan did this film but his was the best character simply because it was off the wall and fun; not his best performance but enjoyably silly. Cromwell adds a bit of weight but does seem too good for this. The support cast is full of British comedians - Cribbins, Staunton, Reeves, McNeice are all good and Tony Slattery is given a silly wig and just let loose. Small roles also for Mark Little and Jon Snow.

Overall this is amusing but never really hilarious. It has a few laughs but generally it gets by on raucous energy alone. It is broad and silly but it is worth seeing if you are in a silly mood and not too demanding.

This was a very basic comedy/drama with good performances and enough energy to keep it interesting...well, as interesting as it CAN be, considering the subject matter.

I'm not into the game featured here, but I still found the flick amusing, in spite of the local-centric nature of the setting. Adequate tension is generated during the actual event itself, to make it decently enjoyable, but what made it entirely tolerable was the likability of the characters.

It was okay. There's nothing actually special about this work, yet it was (very) mildly entertaining, so it wasn't a total waste of my time.

It rates a 4.0/10 from...

the Fiend :.

It's hard to understand with all the scripts and projects that never get made that this should have made it to our screens.

It has an array of top class actors and character actors and yet the plot is absolutely absurd.

Crown Green Bowling! Really it's impossible to make that even close to interesting. The class war is old tired cliche and that drives the script.

It's too tedious to watch to the end, and I freely admit to switching off after 25mins. Much more than it deserved.

I wonder how they persuaded the cast to take this on.

This last sentence is purely to take the review up to 600 words because I don't have any more to add to such a wafer thin film

Avoid.