So much average

Best movie ever!

A Major Disappointment

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

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 :.

Quite pleasantly surprised by this film - I taped it for a reason I can't recall, and when I finally sat down to watch it laughed so hard I vibrated. Sexy West Country accent from the unstoppable Paul Kaye, excellent best-buddy shtick from my potting hero, Johnny Vegas; some great cameo turns; and a love interest that was actually interesting.Being American-born, having fled the US (partly) to get away from the really dreadful bits in American culture only to find they've bloody followed me, I'm usually annoyed to find a Septic chewing up the scenery in British TV or film. Hey, *I* found Britain first; YANKS GO HOME!!! is my motto.But in this case, I thought Vince Vaughan a perfect addition to an already stellar cast. Maybe it was because Vaughan's character didn't posit the usual American nasal every-sentence-is-a-question? rap; maybe it was his blast of fresh & sweary air. Anyway, this film is a must-see for fans of British comedy who like intelligence, vulgarity, quick wit: 'He was a national bowling champion aged 45: too much, too young.' Not to mensch a script, for once, *not* written by the unfortunately ubiquitous Richard Curtis.

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.

OK So black ball is a film about bowls! A film that contains lots of obscenity such as words that describe things people do when they are alone and watching films of an adult nature. I myself am doing a degree in film studies. Us Brits have a bit of a problem we are trying to be the Americans the major difference is that we ain't. This film is a feel good movie, simple as. I left feeling happy and contented. We can look deeply and describe what it wasn't so it wasn't Basic Instinct, wasn't Any Given Sunday, wasn't Gladiator. For me it achieved everything it set out to you laughed? If you didn't then you obviously probably find Schindler's List comic. Mel Smith is a comedian and I think a clever one, yes some of the jokes were immature. But for me it had a feeling of Ballykissangel or Monarch of the Glen about it. So come on guys lighten up watch it again and this time let it wash over you don't come up with expectations of a clever political comedy like Wag the Dog because it just ain't there. This is a film that takes you through the trials and tribulations of a person who only finds out what he's gained when he loses it. The two Australian bowlers remind me slightly of the American Athens 4 x 100 metre team all confident winking at the camera. Right until a cheeky Brit goes and nips them at the post.My advice experience this film, watch it with some mates a beer or a glass of wine and laugh at it. Its funny and stop being hyper critical and come out of the intellectual coffins the British film industry has been slipping into.