I finally got around to watching this Farrelly brothers movie. I've seen Dumb & Dumber, There's Something About Mary, etc... I thought I had scene Kingpin, but as I watched it, it didn't seem familiar.
The story wasn't quite original. A star athelete who gets down on his luck and finds a protege to coach to greatness - its been done many times before. This one was set in the world of bowling.
For this movie, unfortunately, you have to set a lot of the logic aside to really find it funny. Like an Amish guy who is an expert bowler and is able to hide it from his family (strangely, they kept calling him a 'boy', Randy Quaid looked older than Woody Harrelson). Somehow they are able to travel across the country with almost no money, with the intention of arriving in Reno Nevada to enter a bowling tournament?
But where the movie really falls apart is the whole thing was a set up for Randy Quaid's Ishmael character to shine in Reno. But then he hurts his hand, and Woody Harrelson's Roy decides to bowl instead. Huh? So you think, hmm, how is he going to bowl with his left hand? Is he going to have time to practise?
No, the movie instead has him using his prosthetic hand to bowl. Now, throughout the movie, we've been shown how the hand is more like a glorified rubber glove. It's very flimsy, and can come off easily. The fingers have no support, so they're easily bent back. Yet, Roy suddenly is able to carry a 12lb bowling ball in that hand?!! That's where the movie really loses me.
Then you have Ishmael leaving without saying goodbye, so you think that Roy is mad at him, because Ishmael didn't even stay to see him win or lose. And even though Roy manages to earn some money (who pays a $500,000 advance for advertising?), he gives it all just to save Ishmael's Amish community. Seems a bit too generous, even if he did get the love of bowling back, kind of.
So while this comedy has some enjoyable moments, the way Roy is able to bowl competitively after not having bowled in 17 years, and with a soft rubber glove, doesn't really hold up. But I will say I did find the fly away comb-overs that Bill Murray and Woody Harrelson had in that final match was pretty funny.
Yes, I get it's a comedy, but come on, this isn't set in a fantasy world on a fantasy planet. Farrelly brothers should have come up with a better final 20 minutes.
Review of Kingpin
