Blackball

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.

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 :).

Typical run-of-the-mill British comedy, the kind of lukewarm stuff we seem to reproduce on a regular basis. Parts of the film are amusing although nothing stands out as memorable and the whole thing is a bit predictable. It is hard to feel anything for the lead character, and the moral stance of the film is not clear. Johnny Vegas lifted the film for me, as he provides some moments of genuine amusement simply by playing himself. Could have been a whole lot better, but on the whole it's watchable as long as you don't expect too much from it.

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.

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.