I had expected a fun, simple sports comedy when I saw this. Instead I got a lazy, unfunny, god awful piece of film. Blackball makes a lot of assumptions of it audience, going beyond 'suspension of disbelief' to simply not trying. The love interest effectively appears out of nowhere, falling for the 'hero' at first sight, as he yells at her teenage pupils! The villain is bog-standard 'snob' to the hero's 'slob' but thats what a sport's comedy is, so not a problem. The problem is the young, wild bowler is unlikeable as they come. He's effectively every Adam Sandler character thrown into one but without the redeeming qualities. His relationship with the love interest effectively consists of him being obnoxious and her swooning. It as if the writer took bullet point notes of what a sports comedy is, but forgot why those key points work. At one point there's an 'emotional' moment of victory, barely 15 minutes in, the hero having only had crushing victories. At the halfway mark, apparently the success goes to his head, alienating his loved ones etc. but his personality and actions don't change, he is as irritating and self-centred as ever! There's simply no reason to care. The hero's 'badboy' persona is so overblown and garish, it strikes as a cynical and again LAZY effort. There's a scene where his slick PR agent attempts to win him over through various insincere threats and niceties, while he remains unmoved. That is the definition of this film.
Lazy. This film's only value is as an example of how-not-to.
Lazy. This film's only value is as an example of how-not-to.