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"The Mormon
Tabernacle Choir At
Halftime" |
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Directed by Kurt Hale -
Written by Kurt Hale,
Paul Eagleston
Starring Fred Willard,
Clint Howard, Gary
Coleman, Andrew Wilson
Distributed by HaleStorm -
2006 - 91mins - Rated PG |
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Richard Propes'
Review
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D+ |
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Winning isn't everything...Yeah right. |
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Producer/Writer/Director Kurt Hale, co-founder of specialized film
distributor HaleStorm Entertainment, attempts to broaden his horizons
with "Church Ball," a goofy comedy set inside the world of a church
basketball league.
HaleStorm Entertainment, founded in 2001 following the release of
Hale's first film "The Singles Ward," has long been recognized as a
leader in Mormon cinema, however, Hale has recently stated his
intention to widen his spectrum to produce family friendly films that
will entertain people of all faiths.
Apparently, "Church Ball" is the first result of Hale's efforts to
reach a wider audience. As if to reinforce that this is not a strictly
Mormon film, Hale sprinkles the cast with mainstream Hollywood actors
such as Fred Willard, Clint Howard and, oddly enough, Gary Coleman
with supporting performances from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the
semi-mainstream actress Amy Stewart.
The concept of placing a film inside a church basketball league is a
funny idea, especially for anyone who has ever been around this unholy
world where "Bless You" often gets replaced with...well, you get the
idea.
Unfortunately, Hale borrows from nearly every other irreverent sports
film ever made in putting together "Church Ball." The end result is a
film that will constantly have you asking "Where Have I seen that
before?"
Parker and Stone's much funnier "Baseketball"?
Ben Stiller's "Dodgeball"?
Heck, there's even a little "Bend It Like Beckham" here.
While the film is not, essentially, a Mormon film it's undeniable that
the church in question is a Mormon church. The church leader is called
Bishop (Fred Willard), and there are occasional vague Mormon
references. It feels as if Hale didn't want to alienate his core
audience, so he made it JUST Mormon enough to please them yet left out
the strict Mormon storylines that have dominated his previous films.
The film centers on a motley crew of basketball players from Mud Lake,
a church team that hasn't won the league championship in 20 years.
Now, after realizing the moral decay that has gone on in church ball,
it has been decided that this season will be Mud Lake's last season of
church basketball. The Bishop wants to go out a champion and asks the
team's leader, Dennis (Andrew Wilson, Luke and Owen's brother), to win
the championship!
The team that Dennis has to work with? There's the geek (Clint
Howard), the loser (Stan Ellsworth), the bad guy/potty mouth (Ross
Brockley), a short guy (Gary Coleman, of course) along with a janitor,
a foreign guy and well, once again you get my point.
As in all sports films with a motley crew of misfits, there has to be
the perfect adversary. In this case, it's the three-time champion from
Crystal Hills, headed by the dastardly Bracken Brothers (Larry Bagby
and Curt Doussett).
What follows is a predictable mishmash of silliness, overcoming the
odds, forced comic situations and, of course, the inevitable
championship trophy (Oh, darn. I gave away the ending).
While the desire to branch out and expand the Halestorm audience is
admirable, this seems like an odd way to start the process.
Hasn't it been a few years since Gary Coleman was considered a good
marketing move?
Even the addition of the adorably goofy Clint Howard is almost
irrelevant here as only his appearance is markedly abnormal. It's an
odd team when Howard seems like one of the normal ones.
Throw into the mix an odd, lame love story between an older janitor
and the church organist along with the disturbingly repetitive joke of
Dennis's young daughter repeatedly baking cookies for anyone and
everyone and you end up with a story that offers few laughs, almost
nothing original and the same jokes over and over.
And over.
Writer/Director Kurt Hale is going to have to be even bolder if he
truly expects HaleStorm to transcend its current niche' market.
Throwing a few "name" actors into a popular sports setting isn't
enough...the simple reality is that "Church Ball" plays like a
marketing film for church. They may not use all the church words, but
the intent is still obviously the same.
Moviegoing audiences are simply too smart for that, and Hale risks
alienating his Mormon audience and, quite honestly, never attracting
the wider audience he seems to desire. Christian Vuissa, with his film
"Baptists at our Barbecue," started a marvelous trend of interweaving
the HaleStorm niche' market into a wider audience. The result? A
marvelously innocent, funny and occasionally insightful film that
speaks to a much wider audience.
Instead of seemingly trying to avoid church talk, "Church Ball" could
have easily been turned into a witty, biting and funny commentary on
church leagues, social mores and interfaith differences. Instead, it's
a generic film called "Church Ball" that could just as easily take
place in just about any setting.
Even the film's novelty casting offered virtually no payoffs in terms
of character development. While Wilson, Bagby and Willard all have
their shining moments, they are frequently underwhelmed with material
that simply falls flat.
If "Church Ball" is indicative of the messages that are being taught
in today's churches then it's no wonder that church attendance across
the denominations is declining.
The Bishop was right. "Church Ball" is definitely a sin.
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© Written by Richard Propes -
Email Me! |
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How We Rated This Film
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TC Candler -
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| Richard Propes
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D+ |
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Jacob Hall
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TC Candler's Comment
n/a
Jacob Hall's
Comment
n/a
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