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Church Ball

Play trailer Poster for Church Ball PG Released Mar 17, 2006 1h 31m Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
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17% Tomatometer 12 Reviews 39% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
Dennis Buckstead (Andrew Wilson), a basketball coach for his church, faces a nearly impossible task: The bishop (Fred Willard) demands that he lead a misfit team to victory in the upcoming championship game. With 20 years of losses behind it, Dennis' team is in danger of being remembered as the worst ever to play the game.

Critics Reviews

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Ted Fry Seattle Times ... a carefree, underdog sports comedy. Rated: 2.5/4 Apr 28, 2006 Full Review Richard Nilsen Arizona Republic Jokes fall flat, characterizations are sketchy at best, setups never receive their payoff, unnecessary subplots slow the already glacial pace. Rated: 1/5 Apr 13, 2006 Full Review Richard Propes TheIndependentCritic.com Hale borrows from nearly every other irreverent sports film ever made. Rated: 1.5/4.0 Sep 5, 2020 Full Review Luke Y. Thompson New Times Hale's directorial style relies way too much on the kind of cheesy music video montages that have long since been parodied to death, and the religious rock songs used are truly awful. Apr 29, 2006 Full Review William Arnold Seattle Post-Intelligencer Its rowdiness, bathroom humor, cast of familiar but second-rate actors and overall disrespect for organized religion make it seem like any other bad Hollywood farce. Rated: C- Apr 28, 2006 Full Review Phil Villarreal Arizona Daily Star Air ball . . . Air ball . . . Rated: 1/4 Apr 13, 2006 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member This comedy from Latter-Day Saint filmmakers can make you laugh if you are familiar with church ball within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. If you are not a member of that church or have no experience with the church's church ball then you might be lost and think "why is this funny?" a lot. This comedic underdog sports story is not ambitious at all and was made clearly for slapstick purposes. The acting is unconvincing and the story is really ridiculous. However, at the heart of the film we can all relate with being an underdog in our own life in some way. Overall I give this film a 3.5/10. I do enjoy this movie because I am familiar with its premise, but if I weren't I don't know why I would watch it! It is a good Mormon comedy if you are Mormon or are strongly familiar with Mormons. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review Audience Member A funny cheezy LDS comedy. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/13/23 Full Review Audience Member Interesting to have a basketball movie in a church setting. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/15/23 Full Review Audience Member Totally bombed a movie with such a great premise and a funny cast. The idea of it ended up being much better than the execution, which seemed at times like actors were improvising scenes. The basketball scenes tried to tap into physical humor that wasn't funny. The gag with Gary Coleman was only funny if you didn't know he was going to be in the movie. And with how awful the protagonists acted, the movie couldn't even tap into the lovable underdog you see in most sports movies. Both sides were pretty unlikeable. This was a huge disappointment. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Audience Member (First and only viewing - In my mid-twenties) Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review joel h I'm giving Church Ball two stars - one for each time I laughed. It's not the actors' fault that this movie isn't good, the blame falls squarely on the shoulders of the writers, producers, editors and the director. It's not a complete waste of time, but it's not one I can recommend or watch again. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Church Ball

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Church Ball

Church Ball (2006) Church Ball (2006) Church Ball (2006) Church Ball (2006) A scene from the film "Church Ball." A scene from the film "Church Ball." A scene from the film "Church Ball." A scene from the film "Church Ball." View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis Dennis Buckstead (Andrew Wilson), a basketball coach for his church, faces a nearly impossible task: The bishop (Fred Willard) demands that he lead a misfit team to victory in the upcoming championship game. With 20 years of losses behind it, Dennis' team is in danger of being remembered as the worst ever to play the game.
Director
Kurt Hale
Producer
George Dayton
Screenwriter
Paul Eagleston, Stephen Rose, Kurt Hale
Distributor
Halestone Distribution
Production Co
Halestorm Entertainment
Rating
PG (Mild Language|Rude Humor)
Genre
Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Mar 17, 2006, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 2, 2020
Box Office (Gross USA)
$465.0K
Runtime
1h 31m
Sound Mix
Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.85:1)