Gross yet funny (Kingpin (DVD))

Name: Jayne

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Product:	Kingpin (DVD)
Date:	21/11/00 (156 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some of the jokes and the cast

Disadvantages: Some parts are dull and the plot is mostly predictable

"Kingpin" follows a theme that is regularly highlighted in comedies, bowling. What with "The Big Lebowski" and...um..."Grease 2"? Okay, so I lied, there arent many hilarious films focused on bowling, and "Kingpin" isnt one of them, due to the fact that at most times it isnt "hilarious". It is however a half decent comedy that raises a few laughs from time to time.

"Kingpin" centres on Roy Munsen (Woody Harrelson) who has been given the gift of bowling from a very early age. He grows up to become the 1979 bowling state champion, beating bitter fellow rival Ernie McCracken (Bill Murray), who exacts his revenge on Roy one night after the pair hustle a "priest" and several others from quite a bit of money, who then after realising they have been cheated go after the pair. Ernie drives off leaving Roy stranded, and the group of highly angry men cruelly end up decapitating Roy's bowling hand. 17 years on, Roy is living a shattered life, having been left with a prosphetic rubber hand, and making a "career" out of selling bowling equipment. However his luck changes when he meets Amish man Ishmael (Randy Quaid) who is also gifted with bowling. Roy eventually convinces Ishmael to leave his Amish lifestyle for a while to team up with him for the state champion bowling competetion.

The pair set about hustling up the money to get to the championship, whilst Ishmael has to become accustomed to modern life, and many of the films jokes are based around this, and his naivety of American life. Whilst on their journey Roy and Ishmael come across a leading hustlers girlfriend Claudia (Vanessa Angel) who after a fight with her violent boyfriend makes a sharp exit with Roy and Ishmael, and the three decide to team up and split the money they intend to win at the competition. When the trio finally reach the final they encounter Ernie McCracken, who has since become a leading champion in
the world of baseball and is filthy rich. Things take a turn for the worse though when Ishmael injures his bowling hand...

The ending of the film isnt too hard to figure out, but I'll leave it at that for those who havent seen the film yet. Being a Farrelly brothers film (the blokes who were responsible for such films as "Dumb and Dumber" and "There's Something About Mary") "Kingpin" is high on slapstick comedy and gross out humour. This would be great if it worked most of the time, but many of the gags are either so crass they're just unfunny or so predictable they're just dull. One scene that particularly made me feel ill is the scene where Roy must sleep with his disgusting landlady (played by Lin Shaye who was also in "There's Something About Mary") to pay off his rent, and the viewer is left of the aftermath with Roy repeatedly throwing up in the toilet bowl while his landlady pretends to be Anne Bankcroft in "The Graduate". This scene is typical Farrelly brothers material, although is still funny enough to make me laugh when I wasnt gagging. Another scene which was quite amusing was the spoof on "Indecent Proposal" (a film which Woody Harrelson also starred in) when a gambler offers Roy and Ishmael a million dollars if they'll sleep together. Whilst Ishmael is immediately offended, Roy actually stoops to contemplate the offer.

Criticisms of "Kingpin" lie mostly on the thin-material of comedy used, when it's genuinely funny it carries it off really well, but when it's bad it's really poor. I also didnt think that Bill Murray's character was used to it's full potential, and Murray only appears at the beginning and end of the film, which is a shame as his performance is excellent. Another small criticism lies in the fact that the Farrelly brothers really should have done a better job of covering up Woody Harrelson's hand at some
parts of the film, in the dental flossing scene you can clearly see his actual hand holding onto the hook his character sometimes uses in the film. This isnt much of a cause for concern however.

The acting largely makes up for the frequent thinness of the plot, with Harrelson, Murray and Randy Quaid all putting in some decent and amusing performances that carry the film in it's dull parts. Although personally I'd have to say I much preffered the likes of "Dumb and Dumber" to "Kingpin", I'm sure
that "Kingpin" is popular with many people, it is quite a funny film that is definately worth watching.

Summary: