Old School Review by KDV: Kingpin

Real champions aren’t made—they are born. Roy Munson is one of those extraordinary examples. Hailing from the small town of Ocelot, Ohio, his skills as a natural born bowler made him into a local legend. Unfortunately for Munson, life can hit you hard, and it’s not so easy to get back up once you’ve been knocked down.  Kingpin, directed by the Farrelly brothers, Bobby Farelly and Peter Farelly is a  the comedic tale of a man (Munson--played by Woody Harrelson)  who’s life goes to pieces after falling victim to a tragic “accident” that resulted in the amputation of his bowling hand, and the end of his dream as a professional bowler. Seventeen years after the incident, his chance at retribution is handed to him when he stumbles across a young, naïve Amish man by the name of Ishmael Boorg (Randy Quaid), who has the skills to win the million dollar grand prize in a bowling contest in Reno. Along the way they meet the beautiful and promiscuous Claudia (Vanessa Angel), a woman with her eyes on the prize, and together they set off on a journey of sinful behavior, self-discovery, and lots of bowling.

Perhaps one of the funniest and most memorable aspects of this film was the presence of Munson’s long-time rival, and international bowling champion, Ernie “Big Ern” McCracken, played by none other than Bill Murray. Munson blames McCracken for the incident that lost him his hand, and has held a grudge against ever since. And McCracken is certainly no innocent saint. Bitter with the loss of his record, he definitely had had it out for the young Munson, and convinced him help him con some bowlers at a local alley. Their guise was called, and McCracken made a run for it—leaving Munson to fend for himself against the angry mob of amateur bowlers. The next time we would see Munson, he would be handless, with a prosthetic hook protruding from the stump where his hand should have been, and a plastic rubbery hand that he used to cover the hook in his possession.  The background information aside, Bill Murray was hilarious. McCracken is egotistical, eccentric, dazzling, and cocky, and Bill Murray was perfect for the part. He often adorned bizarre fancy “bowling” clothes, and had a special custom-made bowling ball that he uses during contests that is completely clear with a rose encased suspended within the center. He had a hand piece that he wore on his bowling hand, presumably to keep his fingers from being injured, similar to wrapping tape around you fist. More likely than not, the piece was merely for show, since he was determined that everyone everywhere thought he was a serious bowler, and that professionalism was the only way to go.

The irony in this is the unprofessional nature of his reality, that Munson easily sees but the public audience somehow buys. In one scene Munson is sitting at a bar having a glass when a commercial comes on the small television talking about McCracken’s “community work”. The commercial shows McCracken playing with small children as he talks about all of the fatherless family’s in America that needs support. “I’ll be sponsoring four families,” McCracken exclaims, as these women and their children walk on screen. Each woman is questionably skanky, or shamefully attractive, wearing skimpy outfits and hanging all over McCracken as he talks about the money he’s spending on these “Father-less families” so he can help support them. One of the children, a little boy, looks up to the camera and says smiling, “sometimes when I wake up in the morning, McCracken is already here.” McCracken gives a fatherly chuckle as the little boy and his mother smile. As the commercial ends, the bowling sports commentators are back on and they start talking about what a great family role model McCracken is for young Americans. As if.

There were many, many other funny aspects to this film, such as Munson’s inability to exist in an Amish village, which we discover when he goes to convince Ishmael of entering the contest with him. He tells Ishmael’s family that he is too Amish, and that he is family visiting from out of state. This lie leads him to countless terrible incidents, that are hilariously embarrassing, almost to the point that you feel bad for him, such as when he is told to remove the horse shoes from their prize horse and he comes back with it’s hooves chopped off. Or when he’s up at the crack of dawn so as to make a good impression, and exclaims that he has just finished milking their cow. Come to find out they don’t have a cow- just an aged old bull.

Randy Quaid’s character, Ishmael, was also good for a laugh. His ignorance of the outside world sets him up for some awkward situations and terribly hilarious jokes. My personal favorite is when he ends up being an entertainer at a strip club type joint, and Munson and Claudia find him dolled up in enough make-up for a prostitute and a skimpy women’s bikini outfit. He even had some faux lashes. Classic.  Another character that made an appearance in this film and made it just a little bit better was Munson’s crazy property owner (Lin Shaye).

The storyline in this film was good, fairly straightforward, but with enough little tweaks that it was still interesting. The characters were funny, interesting, and colorful. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this film, and will probably watch it again.