Kingpin

Rating:
Summary: Not just a gross out film!
Review: Normally, I don't read other reviews before formulating my own. I still usually check the editorial one so that I'm not just repeating information that's already been given. Here we do somewhat disagree, on the bowling comedy Kingpin. There are some gross out scenes in the movie, some are done so well you can't help, but laugh yourself silly. The Farley's have a knack of knowing how to turn a visual joke. In their later movie, "Something About Mary", everyone remembers the hair gel bit. Ben Stillers' character knows what the gel is, and so does the audience, so although somewhat gross, it's funny. Here they keep the audience in the dark till the last second, as Woodys' character Roy Munson walks up, drinking from a bucket of apparently, fresh milk. Then they hit us that the Amish family doesn't have a milk cow, but they do have a bull! What didn't appear gross on the surface, is suddenly revealed, and just had me rolling.

Then there's the bowling story, derived "like the editorial guy said", from the sequel film, "The Color of Money", but also many elements taken from the much earlier film, "The Hustler". In "The Hustler", Fast Eddie, gets his thumbs broken when he's caught hustling pool at a seedy bar. In Kingpin, Roy Munson gets a similar treatment, and loses a hand. From this tragic, and depressing turn, the Farley brothers manage to maintain the humor, especially with the plot device, of how he got set-up by his then partner (played by Bill Murray). Somehow the term, "Munsoned", derived from Roys' misfortune, becomes part of the language, and means to get "royally shafted". Everywhere Roy goes, people he's never met keep using the term to describe some poor schlep, having a turn of really bad luck. For a while after this film was out, I even heard the term used the way it was in the movie.

When I was much younger, and CATV did not have 300 channels, professional bowling was a popular broadcast on Saturday mornings. Like wrestling, roller derby, and putt putt golf, most of us laymen could relate to a real blue collar sport. I think the Farleys' did a good job capturing the feel of the sport in the contests they displayed. Bill Murray did a great job playing a popular bowling icon. He brought just the right amount of tackiness, and blue collar showmanship to the role. I think they borrowed a bit of this from pro wrestling, since it's a bit showier than a bowling match.

The romance in the movie actually manages to play real, and gives the movie somewhat of a plot. That's a difficult thing to accomplish in a film this crazy. Roy is a character hard not to like, even with all his flaws. Those flaws being clearly on display in scenes, where he tries to pretend to be a fellow Amish man. His antics create some confusion over whether the term is, "barn raising," or "barn razing"! If nothing else the film gives new meaning to the concept of, "getting behind in the rent"!

Rating:
Summary: Kingpin Rules!
Review: By far the best and funniest of the Farelly Brothers films, the overlooked Kingpin features a lot of laughs and a truly excellent soundtrack. Woody Harrelson plays Roy Munson, a once promising bowler whose career is cut short along with his right arm. Randy Quaid plays Ishmael, an unworldly Amish man whose one vice is bowling. After being down and out for several years Munson convinces Ishmael to enter a $1 million winner take all bowling tournament in Reno. Roy and Ishmael hustle their way across the country from Pennsylvania. Along the way they hook up with the beautiful Claudia played by Vanessa Angel. Bill Murray plays top professional bowler Ernie McCracken. McCracken is a total scumbag who is largely responsible for Munson's misery. This movie is loaded with laughs with most gags hitting the mark. By the end of the movie, if you have any heart at all, you will find yourself rooting for Roy and Ishmael. My only complaint is that the home version contains added scenes that were best left edited out of the movie.

Rating:
Summary: Good Comedy that actually Delivers...
Review: "We don't have a cow!" Jeez, that was hilarious! The entire movie made me laugh. There aren't that many movies with amish people in them.

This does a great job of entertainment. It is funny at the same time though. 5 stars. Especially for Woody Harrelson.

Rating:
Summary: Another funny comedy from the Farrelly brothers
Review: Kingpin is a very funny movie that may not be as good as Dumb and Dumber or There's Something About Mary, but it is still a very good movie. Roy Munson is an up-and-coming bowler when he suffers an accident and losed his bowling hand. He retreats into the bottle, and leaves bowling behind. Seventeen years after the accident, Roy sees a possible way out of his problems, Ishmael, an Amish bowler. Together, the two men team up to get to the Bowling Championship in Reno where the top prize is one million dollars. At the same time, Roy seeks revenge for what happened to his hand. As with all Farrelly brother movies, there is your usual gross-out humor that is very funny at times. This is a funny movie with plenty of good moments and good performances by the cast.

Woody Harrelson is great as Roy Munson, the down and out bowler seeking redemption. Plenty of jokes concern his prostethic hand and also his ever dangerous hook. Randy Quaid is equally funny as Amish bowling prodigy, Ishmael Boorg. Bill Murray steals every scene he is in as Ernie "Big Ern" McCracken. At the showdown, Big Ern's ridiculous combover gets more and more out of control as he bowls. The movie also stars Vanessa Angel, Chris Elliott, and Lin Shaye. The DVD offers commentary from the Farrelly brothers, deleted scenes, booklet with production notes, theatrical trailers, and widescreen and fullscreen presentation. For a very funny movie with hilarious performances by Harrelson and Murray, check out Kingpin!

Rating:
Summary: The best movie from the Farrelly Brothers.
Review: Woody Harrelson is Roy Munson, an has been pro bowler, who have been given a second choice to teach an Amish bowling whiz named Ishmael (Randy Quaid). Together, they have have the chance to win the million dollar at reno in the tournament. Along the way, they meet Claudia (Vanessa Angel), an beautiful woman wuth brains & attitude. In thier road trip, they become the best of friends and they would do anything to keep eachother happy.

Directed by Peter & Bobby Farrelly (Dumb & Dumber, Shallow Hal, Osmosis Jones) made thier Best Comedy yet. DVD`s has an fine anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1) transfer and Pan & Scan is included. Good Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. An amusing commentary track from Directors:The Farrelly Brothers. Entertaining film and also one of the best comedies ever. This DVD Edition is R-Rated:Director`s Cut with 4 mintues of Additional Footage. Don`t Miss, this Outrageous Comedy from the Farrelly Brothers. Written by Barry Fanaro (The Crew & Men in Black 2) and Mort Nathan. Super 35. Grade:A-.

Rating:
Summary: Underrated Comedy
Review: I'm not a huge fan of Farrelly brother movies because, as a rule, I don't really go in for gross-out humor. But when I saw "Kingpin", I even considered trying "Dumb and Dumber" again to give these wonderful men another chance. "Kingpin" is very similar to the pair's other movies in that there is indeed some disgusting humor, but unlike other efforts such as "There's Something About Mary", there is an actual story here, with a plot, character development, and even a fair amount of heart.

Rating:
Summary: "Harrelson is the Kingpin"
Review: Peter and Bobby Farrelly set "Kingpin" in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where a washed up bowler with one hand(Woody) who hasn't found major success in 15 years finds a promising Amish striker(Randy Quaid). Woody does whatever he can to get Ishmael to bowl with him, including disguising himself as an Amish. Ishmael leaves home for the money that is promised with a victory of a bowling tournament, which will give him the money needed to prevent foreclosure of his Amish ranch. The cast is very well attached together, with Bill Murray as the rival between Woody and him, and Chris Elliot as a gambler. It is classic Farrelly Brothers' with a lot of raunchy, but hilarious quips. It isn't as funny as "There's Something About Mary" or "Me, Myself and Irene" partially because the leading females in "Mary" and "Irene" are more likeable, whereas Vanessa Angel was the biggest mistake for this movie, with her annoyingly arrogant and unfunny presence. But, it is still a very funny movie that I have seen close to 20 times.

Rating:
Summary: KINGPIN
Review: As ``Kingpin'' opens in 1969 in Ocelot, Iowa, a promising young man is told, ``You can apply everything about bowling to your daily life.'' Only 10 years later, that young man is the winner of the $1,000 Odor-Eaters Bowling Championship. His name is Roy Munson (Woody Harrelson), and his future lies ahead of him, as indeed everyone's does. Then he meets Ernie McCracken (Bill Murray).

McCracken is everything Munson will never be, a cocky, wise-cracking bowler who seems mighty sophisticated to a kid from Ocelot, as he calls for his favorite drink (``Tanqueray and Tab''). Ernie spots Roy's great potential, and uses him in an attempt to hustle an alley full of very tough bowlers. They spot Roy as a ringer, are enraged, and end his bowling career by amputating his hand in the ball return.

So begins a long, dark decade for Roy, who without his bowling hand finds nothing to do but drink himself into oblivion in a scummy boarding house. He fits his arm with a hook, and buys a cheap rubber hand to wear over it, to display his state championship ring. Life is bad. Then one day in an alley he meets a kid with tremendous bowling talent.

So begins the odyssey of ``Kingpin,'' a very funny movie, and sometimes even funnier than that. The film has been directed by the Farrelly brothers, Peter and Bobby, who also made the Jim Carrey movie ``Dumb and Dumber.'' I did not quite recommend ``D & D,'' but perhaps I should have, considering how loudly I laughed at the scene involving the parakeet with the Scotch tape around its neck.

In ``Kingpin,'' I laughed like that again and again. No doubt the movie is vulgar, and tries too hard for some of its laughs; I am reminded of Mel Brooks' defense of ``The Producers'' (``This movie rises below vulgarity''). Some of the gags don't work, and yet I laughed at the Farrellys' audacity in trying them. And the humor isn't just gags and punch lines, but one accomplished comic performance after another.

The leads come together with the joy and assurance of actors who know they are in material that's working. Harrelson is a hapless drunk who finally bottoms out when he finds himself in bed with his unspeakable landlady. Murray is superb as the kind of guy you know is a con man, but allow to con you anyway, simply because he so intensely desires to. Randy Quaid is the talented kid, Ishmael--an Amish farmer whose hobby is a secret from his family. And there is a beautiful girl they meet along the way, named Claudia and played by Vanessa Angel, who at first seems like decoration and then proves herself as a comic actress able to hold her own in this company.

I could steal all the movie's best punch lines and repeat them here, but that would be unfair. One of the joys of the film is that you can't see a lot of the laughs coming. There are moments, for example, involving Roy's attempt to help out on the farm by doing the milking. And a moment involving his rubber hand and a bowling ball. And the timing in a scene where a fake assailant gets hot coffee in his face--twice. And little throwaway jokes in the background, such as a performance of ``The Jeffersons on Ice.''

The plot follows the obligatory outlines of most sports movies. Roy decides to become Ishmael's manager and mastermind his victory in a $1 million Reno bowling tournament. Their paths inevitably cross Ernie's, who is still out there hustling after all these years. They encounter rich guys who like to bet on bowling. And everything leads up to the big tournament.

Murray, who has been offscreen for the middle parts of the movie, when it sags a little, returns in the big finale, sporting one of those comb-over haircuts where every surviving strand does double-duty. In the heat of competition, his comb-over flies up like a sail, and makes him look like a strange animal, an iguana maybe, as he attacks the lanes. Meanwhile, the audience and the broadcasters display an unseemly interest in Harrelson's rubber hand.

Movies like this require a kind of daring. There are jokes that must have made even the filmmakers groan (the business of removing the horse's shoes, for example). Good taste, prudence and timidity had no place on the set. The Farrellys cut no corners and took no prisoners. ``Kingpin'' provides the release of many kinds of laughter, including the most rare: disbelieving.

Rating:
Summary: Underrated Comedy
Review: I'm not a huge fan of Farrelly brother movies because, as a rule, I don't really go in for gross-out humor. But when I saw "Kingpin", I even considered trying "Dumb and Dumber" again to give these wonderful men another chance. "Kingpin" is very similar to the pair's other movies in that there is indeed some disgusting humor, but unlike other efforts such as "There's Something About Mary", there is an actual story here, with a plot, character development, and even a fair amount of heart.

Rating:
Summary: Absolute Genius
Review: This movie might just be the funniest movie ever made - depending on the day of the week - it is so outright funny, that its hard to believe. Everything about this movie is genius. Bill Murray is amazing - the final 'bowl-off' with Woody defies description - with the comb-over and the 'YES - I AM FINALLY ABOVE THE LAW' and 'Well I didn't want to lose to a guy with a hook' . Woody as Roy Munson is also brilliant. He comes across as the epitome of a man who has been kicked over and over again - but somehow still retains an edge to him. The scene with the landlady is perhaps the greatest laugh you will ever have. Wow! Anyone who doesn't like this movie - must have some sort of brain damage. It isn't Shakespeare people - it is simply a fantastic comedy that centers around ...................BOWLING. Now who would have believed that!?