7-10 Split (2007)

As a romantic comedy, there is absolutely NO chemistry here between lead characters "Ross" (Ross Patterson, who proves he is not accomplished enough as an actor to be trusted to assume a first name for a role, other than his own) and "Lindsay" (Tara Reid, who remains good at pouting, if nothing else). Clayne Crawford as "Ross'" sidekick "Mike" completes a trifecta of woeful performances here, with an oddly inflected dialect which seems dubbed by a loop group person for whom English is a second language. That director Tommy Reid elicited such a trio of bottom-tier efforts is no testimonial to the virtues of Hollywood nepotism, and the seemingly endless list of 24 producers (including Tara and Tommy) prove the adage about too many cooks making a rancid roast.Unfortunately, there is no hint that the so-called brains behind 7-10 SPLIT (as STRIKE was initially, and more aptly, titled) were attempting to spoof sports movies, though the climax echoes (no doubt unintentionally) Kevin Costner's golf movie, TIN CUP. Instead, they seemingly tried to put out a SERIOUS version of "stoners meet ROCKY," without so much as a Cheech Marin or Burt Young cameo. The best they could do for Tinseltown's senior citizens was a bit part as PBA commissioner by Ray Wise. Every nuance of this movie seems totally predictable, from the leads' on-and-off-and-on again relationship, to the lonely big mansion scene to the temptations of booze, groupies, booze, drugs, booze, fame--and booze on "Ross." Speaking of the devil, Ross Patterson wrote the screenplay, but if 100 chimps typed at 100 typewriters for 100 hours, chances are at least 15 or 20 of them would do better. If I rated on a straight curve, STRIKE would merit a "1" or "2" out of 10, so "4" may seem overly generous to some viewers.

7-10 Split is the story of Ross (Ross Patterson), a man who just got fired from his crap job working as a pizza delivery boy. Him and his stoner friend, roommate, and former co-worker, Mike (Clayne Crawford) go bowling every week as someone else every time. When Ross realizes he's a really good bowler, him, Mike, and Ross's girlfriend, Lindsay (Tara Reid) go on the road for a bowling championship. They go under the names Ross Vegas, Lil' Reno, and Mike is just plain their manager. The movie also involves a funny, seemingly gay character named Jerry (Rob Huebel). Just like Kingpin, this is a bowling comedy with a lot of good bowling, that although not perfect, is very good. I didn't particularly like this movie. Yes, it's dumb, but it's entertaining all the same. The movie was not as awful as it could of ended up being, but it's not a bad film. The characters are pretty much funny. Look, I'm not saying anything great about this, in fact, it's pretty damn mediocre. That said, it's mediocre entertainment. All I have to say about this movie now is it's worth a rental to get a couple of good laughs.

Just to give you an idea of where I am coming from: I loved the National Lampoons movies, Monty Python, Adam Sandler movies, Ben Stiller, Will Farrell etc. But this movie is not in that league. This is not the worst movie I have ever seen, and I did manage to watch all of it, but the acting, direction, sets, script etc. were pretty bad. I did not laugh once. In the first part of the film they portray the two leading males as a pair of fun loving guys trying to get a break as actors but stuck delivering pizzas. I gather that this opening bit was to get us (the viewers) to identify with the characters as well as create a good board for the plot to spring from. But the scene where the two guys spit out the pizza they'd been chewing on and reform it back into a pizza to be delivered, created a very different impression to what the director attempts to cast later. If the idea is that they are a pair of brainless imps that go around doing stupid things that we cannot help but laugh at because it is so well done, then so be it. But when the plot gets in full swing, somehow we are expected to believe that the same pair are now naturally so damn cool that the whole of the US just falls for them. Another thing that got me was that they fell far short of the level of cool, or wit required to make a splash even on a pre-scripted C-grade film let alone a national sports event. When I was about 15 or younger I may have chuckled at a few scenes here and there and still walked away from it feeling underdone, and I think I am being generous there.

I had never heard of this movie, not sure how long ago it came out in the states, but I liked it. Me and my friends laughed. For an indie comedy, it was pretty funny. I'm assuming it's indie, because we usually get all the big movies over here in theaters. The two male leads had great chemistry and there was a lot of fun cameos, especially Vinnie Jones. He stole the scenes he was in. I caught this on cable, and I was pretty surprised how funny it was. It reminded me of your typical sports movies, same formula and what not. There's a lot of random one liners and stoner moments. I was pretty entertained for an hour and a half. I'm not a big Tara Reid fan, but she was okay in this. Worth the watch on cable. I enjoyed it. If you're in the mood to laugh, and are able to check your brain at the door, this is good to pass the time with. And for that I give it a 10 out of 10. I'm pretty easy to please though.