Best movie ever!

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

This movie was bland, boy was it bland. Well its about Cliff Starkey(played by the rather annoying Paul Kaye) who is a bowls player(I didn't know anything about the sport when I saw this, what I can assume is that its like Curling and Bowling). Well, this "plot" that he became champion at a local country club, but the "Dean-esque" country club faithful hate this and he gets banned. He and the obnoxious Vince Vaughn(did he own something to the director) turn it in to a glorified sport. However, I like Kaye's performance till the second half, when they made conflict out of thin air. This movie was passable but no way worth seeing.

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.

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 :).

I did not like the marketing of the film in he UK which sold the film as a comedy with a weird theme, when what the film actually is is a romantic comedy with dramatic moments and hilarious moments about the clash between modern England and the traditional England symbolized by the odd game Blackball. Peter Kaye embodies the post sex pistols generations and delivers a superb interpretation. The story is entertaining, moves fast enough, Mel Smith's directing is sharp and efficient. It should have been a success. Alice Evans is cute enough, a bit on the cold though, as the daughter of the old Speight played by a towering James Cromwell, excellent as always. What an actor! The duet Cromwell/Kaye is unforgettable and works marvelously as the symbol for modern day England generation gap and culture clash. Tasteless marketing impaired the chances of this very good British movie in the theaters.