Blackball

2003 "At Last, A Sportsman The British Can Be Proud Of"
5.6| 1h36m| R| en| More Info
Released: 18 May 2003 Released
Producted By: Midfield Films
Country:
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Blackball follows the fortunes of Cliff Starkey, a working-class fine of lawn bowls with an exceptional talent. Wanting to take on the Aussies he manages to become regional champion, only to get banned. Sports agent Rich Schwartz picks him up and makes him so popular the Bowls Committee deem to lift the ban. Now the question is whether he can regain his form and his friends to beat the Aussies.

Genre

Comedy

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Director

Mel Smith

Production Companies

Midfield Films

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Blackball Audience Reviews

Wordiezett So much average
JinRoz For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!
Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.
Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.
Elswet 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 :.
Angel-Shadow 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 :).
Jim Rand 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.
brian-rowan Ok so a film about bowling is never really going to fire the imagination of the average film fan. However it's based on a true story of a young bowler who was banned for calling a member of the selection commitee a rude name. A very rude name.The bad boy of bowls is born. The film itself and the storyline is a bit contrived and predictable but the acting is first class. Johnny Vegas especially is excellent. See if you recognise one of the Aussie bowlers. A superb soundtrack as well.All in all a reasonable film. Not the best but not the worst either.