Film #170 - Blackball (2003)
Viewed June 19, 2006
Okay, I pretty much watched Blackball (or “National Lampoon’s Blackball”, as the DVD states) because Vince Vaughn was in it. While I wasn’t that impressed with the last vaughn film that I saw, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004), he’s usually rock solid. I fully expected this to be little more than a cameo in an overall poor production, but was pleasantly surprised to find that he has a decent part in what I ultimately found to be a pleasant, if flawed, production.
The story revolves around the game of Bowls (similar to Bocce) and follows a young player, Cliff Starkey (Paul Kaye) as he barges his way into the staid world the game occupies. He butts heads particularly with local Bowl champion Ray Speight (James Cromwell), eventually leading to Starkey being banned from the game. In steps superagent Rick Schwartz (Vaughn), who uses Starkey’s new-found notoriety to catapult him to superstardom. Meanwhile, Starkey has taken up with Speight’s daughter Kerry (Alice Evans) and finds himself losing touch with his best friend Trevor (Johnny Vegas) and his father (Bernard Cribbins). It is based on the real story of bowler Griff Sanders, a flamboyant player who was once banned for ten years due to his conduct.
Well, it’s all pretty standard “Rise and Fall” stuff, actually. Cliff’s gaining of fame and losing of his friends is far too obvious and the film would have been better served with something more original. (Just what that would be, I don’t know.) Things aren’t helped by the fact that Cliff comes off very poorly right from the beginning. Basically, he’s an ass when we first meet him, acting foolishly and insulting his opponents as he beats them on the Bowls field. It makes his eventual downfall seem much less significant, since he wasn’t that appealing to begin with.
The film is ultimately saved by the supporting cast. First, there’s the aforementioned Vaughn, who invests more in this character than it may deserve. He’s one of those actors who sizzles when they’re “on” and he’s “on” throughout most of the film. His fast-talking, slick-dealing agent gets most of the best lines and Vaughn steals the movie whenever he’s on screen. Another good supporting performance is from veteran actor Bernard Cribbins (Carry On Jack (1963), Daleks’ Invasion Earth: 2150 A.D. (1966), Casino Royale (1967)). He and Imelda Staunton (Much Ado About Nothing (1993), Sense and Sensibility (1995), the upcoming Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)), playing Cliff’s mother, help ground the proceedings. James Cromwell is able to infuse his part with a great deal of dignity, despite his position as the heavy. He plays well off the other actors, helping to elevate scenes that otherwise would probably deteriorate into farce. Also, keep your eyes peeled for brief appearances by Tony Slattery (Whose Line Is It, Anyway?) as a referee and Geoffrey McGivern (radio’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the galaxy) as a mad-as-a-hatter Bowls “wunderkind”. (He was in his fifties at the time.)
Director Mel Smith (The Tall Guy (1989), Bean: The Movie (1997)) keeps things sprightly and does particularly well with the mock “Sports Spectacle” scenes during the climactic bowls game. He struggles more with the personal aspects, succeeding better with scenes involving Vaughn and Cromwell, but unable to invest Kaye and Evans’ scenes with the realism they need.
I have no doubt that National Lampoon agreed to distribute Blackball because they hoped to get some traction off Vince Vaughn following the surprise success of Dodgeball. There’s little of Dodgeball’s sensibility in Blackball, as the latter is a much more serious comedy (if you know what I mean). Still, the notion of grown men taking such a marginal game so seriously is a shared theme, though handled quite differently. Blackball certainly has many things going for it, mostly the performances from the supporting cast. However, in the end, it left me less than fully satisfied.