National Lampoon's Blackball (2003)

Try as he might, Cliff Starkey just can’t keep out of trouble. With a dead-end career, there’s not much that makes him want to get out of bed in the mornings… except his one passion: Lawn Bowls. Almost as soon as he learned how to walk, he displayed a genius for the sport. To the dismay of the elderly, uptight bowls fraternity in town, Cliff honed his mastery of the game alone, playing by no one’s rules but his own. Now, the time has come for his skill to be recognized, and Rick Schwartz (Vince Vaughn), an American sports agent, is going to ensure that this ‘Bad Boy’ of bowls gets the spotlight he deserves. Cliff’s rock ‘n’ roll attitude and army of screaming female fans soon take England by storm, and he finds himself on the way to super-stardom! But can he take on the stuffy, business-like attitude of the Bowls Association and his senior arch-rival, Ray Speight? Starkey is only one match away from super-stardom as he joins forces with Ray in a ball-busting championship showdown!

Glory Be

I simply don't get it. Given a second thought, perhaps I do. If you've ever found yourself tantalized by the local paper's movie reviews, only to find, upon seeing a particular movie, that your opinion actually differed from the voice upon high (blasphemy!), you may consider yourself baptized.
Paul Kaye acts his behind off, while it's nice to see James Cromwell (Babe, Clear and Present Danger) in majestic motion. Vince Vaughn adds a nice touch of extra comedy and you can't go wrong with Mr. Double Down.
This movie might not be funny if: you need a laugh-track to cue the humorous parts, story and character development take a backseat to explosions and gratuitous T/A, or this movie was not featured in the Men's Health Entertainment Section, and if you're reading that, I can only pray for your conversion in the least anyways.
The National Lampoon moniker threw me at first, but don't let it deter you. Even the worst tennis player scores a point now and then. Bring on the soundtrack featuring Queen, The Who, and U2. The only thing missing from this movie is a Stone Roses song. I waited to write this review until I had two copies in my library, so now drink deep from the well and be satisfied at last. April 26, 2007

Unfunniest comedy ever?

I'm torn as to whether to label this as the most unfunniest comedy ever, for I have "Disorderlies" with the Fat Boys and "Private Resort" with Johnny Depp and Rob Morrow to contend with. Regardless, as lame as most of the recent National Lampoon titles have been as of late, this one certainly takes the cake of being the most unwatchable. Mel Smith (the co-writer/director) apparently has a few good friends, for I can't imagine any other reason as to why James Cromwell and Vince Vaughn would even think to sign on to something this ridiculously bad (although they, to their credit are only featured in supporting roles). To sum it up briefly, this movie takes a predictable and watered-down "Dodgeball" approach, punishes you with creating the most annoying main character in history (and yes, he is more annoying than Pauly Shore, Yahoo Serious, Jerry Lewis and Pee-Wee Herman have done on their worst day), wastes your time by featuring an incredibly dull sport and fails to muster one single laugh out of the proceedings. Being a Vince Vaughn fan, I was expecting this to be one of those "under-the-radar" flicks that I would be happy to uncover. Instead, I'm left wishing that I didn't waste my time watching it----and I only sat through the whole thing because I had a morbid curiousity to see if it was possible for the film to fail on all accounts. Well, that's the one factor in which this movie succeeded. Zero stars for this one. Avoid it. March 24, 2007

diamond in the rough

Over the years National Lampoon has put out it's share of horrible films ie Pledge This being the latest. This movie was funny and engaging. It had a good story and a descent plot ulike many of the other movies. Don't miss out. This is one of the better movies out of the National Lampoon archive. March 14, 2007

this movie is crap

this movie sucked. i wish i didnt watch it. it takes place in england, so right there you know its gonna suck. i didnt realize that or i wouldnt have bought it. vince vaughn was ok in this movie, but it was about some ugly loser who played an old peoples game. bocci ball is way cooler than the stupid game they played in this movie. is is a slow, stupid movie. no action story or anything. just about some loser who looks like he smells like crusty butthole. February 27, 2006

Careful with the comparisons to Dodgeball...

This movie was originally released in Britain in 2003, probably before Dodgeball was even filmed. I say that because there exists the sentiment that this was somehow a spin-off.

Anyways, the concept of a movie about bowls drew my roommate and I to the theater when in London. We had no idea what to expect and wer pleasently suprised to see Vince Vaughn. His character was entertaining as were all the others. In the British context it was pretty funny... very very bizarre though. February 1, 2006

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