IMDb RATING
5.6/10
4.5K
YOUR RATING
A rebellious young British bowls player teams with another older and more traditional player to take on the Australian bowls team.A rebellious young British bowls player teams with another older and more traditional player to take on the Australian bowls team.A rebellious young British bowls player teams with another older and more traditional player to take on the Australian bowls team.
Paul Bentall
- Gate Guard
- (as Paul Bental)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured review
As our hero in this movie so aptly put it "tossers". You would think some one claiming to be a film critic would at least get their facts right before proving to all and sundry that their research was substandard to say the least.
The game depicted in the movie and referred to as bowls is in fact lawn bowls. Some Mid West critics seemed to be confused on that.
The game does not involve winning "20 rounds". For a start they are called "ends" and l believe to win you need to score 20 or 21 points depending on the competition.
And to my favourite, our hero must win his "county championship" not his "countries (sic) championship" to be able to play for England.
Even more deplorable was the attempt by some US critics to explain a game they had no idea of, it would be the equivalent to me describing baseball as "rounders with one team attempting to score more runs than the other". Clearly the game is a lot more complex than a simple statement can cover.
I am frankly appalled at the low standard of critcal analysis being displayed by some online US movie sites. By and large the reviews lack research, critical attention to the actual movie itself, (l really don't give a toss about one critic spending 2 paragraphs talking about his Blockbuster movie card), and any evidence that the reviewer has actually seen the movie (a sheep like mentality would seem to run through online reviewers).
One thing l will agree with the NY reviewer about though is that this sort of movie has been done to death, and bowls really doesn't capture the imagination as much as the film makers think it will.
If really wanting a movie on bowls, might l suggest the Australian Indie "Crackerjack".
The game depicted in the movie and referred to as bowls is in fact lawn bowls. Some Mid West critics seemed to be confused on that.
The game does not involve winning "20 rounds". For a start they are called "ends" and l believe to win you need to score 20 or 21 points depending on the competition.
And to my favourite, our hero must win his "county championship" not his "countries (sic) championship" to be able to play for England.
Even more deplorable was the attempt by some US critics to explain a game they had no idea of, it would be the equivalent to me describing baseball as "rounders with one team attempting to score more runs than the other". Clearly the game is a lot more complex than a simple statement can cover.
I am frankly appalled at the low standard of critcal analysis being displayed by some online US movie sites. By and large the reviews lack research, critical attention to the actual movie itself, (l really don't give a toss about one critic spending 2 paragraphs talking about his Blockbuster movie card), and any evidence that the reviewer has actually seen the movie (a sheep like mentality would seem to run through online reviewers).
One thing l will agree with the NY reviewer about though is that this sort of movie has been done to death, and bowls really doesn't capture the imagination as much as the film makers think it will.
If really wanting a movie on bowls, might l suggest the Australian Indie "Crackerjack".
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaBased on a true story of Griff Sanders, who was thrown out of the Torquay Bowls Club for "improper conduct" (including writing "tosser" on the back of a score card).
- GoofsDuring the England v. Australia match, most of the flags shown (including the graphics behind the "computer" head-shots) are Union Flags - the flag of the United Kingdom - and not St George Crosses - the flag of England.
- ConnectionsFeatures The Who: Won't Get Fooled Again (1978)
- SoundtracksLazy Sunday
Written by Steve Marriott (as Marriott) and Ronnie Lane (as Lane)
Performed by The Libertines
- How long is Blackball?Powered by Alexa
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- National Lampoon's Blackball
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $48,000
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $48,000
- Feb 13, 2005
- Gross worldwide
- $1,223,155
- Runtime1 hour 36 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1
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