Kingpin (1996)

Just perfect...

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Blistering performances.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

I saw this back in the day in the theater at a midnight showing and loved it. "Kingpin" was a box office disappointment upon it's original release, but it found it's audience on home video and became something of a cult classic. The set-up is basically "The Natural" except instead of a 1920s Robert Redford having his baseball career cut short, we have a 1970s Woody Harrelson's promising professional bowling career cut short. Harrelson resurfaces 20 something years later to mentor an Amish bowling prospect, Randy Quaid, in order to get payback against bowling star Bill Murray, who was responsible for Harrelson's career ending bowling injury. Suffice to say, it's not the story that made this film memorable. It's the many over-the-top hilarious gags and some surprisingly earnest characters that make this film still hold up today. Some of he best gags involve Harrelson's rubber hand, the foul mouthed Lin Shaye, Harrelson trying to pass as Amish, Quade getting some cold drinks, and an odd Indecent Proposal sequence involving a cameo by Chris Elliott, but it's really Bill Murray who steal every scene that he's in, whether he's mugging after losing a bowling match, doing a self serving infomercial, or something as small as his bad hair combover, he is absolutely hilarious in what might arguable be his best comedic performance (and that's saying something). It's really too bad Murray's part is a supporting role, but it may be his limited screen time that makes his performance so special. Writer/directors Bobby and Peter Farrelly had previously made the popular (and I believe critically underrated) "Dumb and Dumber," but it was this film that helped pave the way for the slew of raunchy 90s comedies that followed, such as "American Pie," the Farrellys own "There's Something About Mary," all the way up to "Superbad." The 80s certainly had it's fair share of Porky's inspired raunch, but this new generation is a bit more story and character driven than their sleazier 80s counterparts. The main weakness of "Kingpin" is that the sappy maudlin elements of the story, which do certainly make the characters more empathetic, are often incongruous with the raunchy and absurd comedic elements. It's hard to go from Harrelson "milking" a bull or "paying" his rent to his hideous landlady to caring whether he finds redemption and self respect. However, "Kingpin" remains an enjoyably crass and rude comedy that although not be for all tastes is a hilarious treat if you can get into the spirit of the film. Vanessa Angel, Richard Tyson, Rob Moran, and Daniel Greene also appear in the film.

Peter Farrelly and Bobby Farrelly made their names in crude comedies that pushed the envelope. In Kingpin they display more of their trademark zaniness and crudeness that they showed in Dumb and Dumber Woody Harrelson plays tenpin bowler named Roy Munson, a potential champion who ended up losing his bowling hand after being tricked by a fellow bowler (Bill Murray).Many years later living a deadbeat life where he does not have enough money to pay the rent. He meets a devout Amish man called Ishmael (Randy Quaid) who he sees as a potential champion and gets him to leave his community and head to Reno to take part in a championship where he meets up again with Bill Murray, now a sleazy bowling superstar with a bad comb-over.The film has plenty of crude humour with Harrelson getting into mishaps with his fake hand and hook. There is low brow humour such as milking a bull believing it to be a cow. Murray pops back at the end with hair that has a life of its own.The film starts off brightly, its refreshingly silly and funny. However it loses its absurdity once they hook up with Claudia (Vanessa Angel) and tries to add depth to the characters. It loses its spontaneity and only becomes sporadically amusing.

Bowling legend Roy Munson (Woody Harrelson) loses a hand to a group of drunks after trying to con them with fellow bowler Ernie McCracken (Bill Murray). Now a drunk promoter with a fake rubber hand, Munson is a shadow of his former self until he hears the fateful sound of a strike. Amish prodigy Ishmael (Randy Quaid) stands to be Munson's shot at winning the largest tournament in the country, but the road there is paved with consequence.This is one of the funniest movies ever made. The Farrelly brothers have given us countless laughs, but this is their best. It brings together some of the most unexpected actors, many out of their element in a comedy, to flawlessly turn a script into a comedic work of art. The laughs are typical Farrelly gross out while remaining truly, deeply funny.Woody Harrelson turns in one of his best performances as the down-but-not-out Munson, wearing a ridiculous wig, outdated clothing, and always his fake rubber hand. Each scene he's in is a lesson in how to lead a comedy, and reminds one of his early days on "Cheers" as the bartender Woody Boyd. His co-star in Quaid is the same; whether it be the murderous, greedy Sheriff is "Hard Rain", or here as the hilariously simple sure relative of the "Vacation" movies Cousin Eddie, Randy Quaid proves his ever surprising versatility as an actor.Bill Murray also fires on all cylinders as the over the top McCracken, Harrelson's arch-nemesis. Murray's last scene is one of the best in the movie; with his hair tossed every which way and his eyes flooding with tears he makes you shocked that he's only been nominated for one Oscar. Vanessa Angel is mostly eye candy but she doesn't have to make up for any acting downfalls."Kingpin" is well-casted, well-written, consistently engaging and always funny. It brings together a diverse cast and a great script to make one of the funniest movies of our time. Strike it off your bucket list.

Roy Munson was the best bowler in the world. But a fellow bowler, Ernie McCracken and a misunderstanding with some rough punks, left Roy with the loss of his bowling hand.He gets a prosthetic hand and becomes a travelling salesman. But it's really all down hill for him from that night on until he meets Ishmael who is Amish and sneaks away from the farm to bowl.Roy convinces Ishmael to let him be his trainer and he'll make him the best bowler the world has ever seen.Reluctantly Ishmael agrees to go on the road and shortly afterwards actually finds that life outside the farm is quite fun. Soon their paths cross that of Ernie McCracken who is still a top ranking bowler.While Roy's career and life have landed in the toilet bowl, Ernie is still drawing huge crowds....Whilenot as good as Dumb and Dumber, the Farrellys comedy still felt pretty fresh and new for it's time of release.If this was released now, it wouldn't have has the plaudits is had, it would probably end up on late night TV, and wouldn't have the great cast.Harrelson is great as Roy, but cannot hold up to Quaid and a brilliant Murray, whenever they are on screen, the film really shines and becomes funny.Sadly, the rest of the film relies on horrid toilet humour and scenes that try and push the boundaries for a '12' movie, it doesn't work and the film has aged badly.That said, the hair is great in this movie, and while the Farrellys haven't really made a good original film for fourteen years, they proved with their first three movies they were a little left-field.