Now I Know Why I Quit Bowling

Rating: 10/10 (16 August 2005)

I say this in a good way: this film captures bowling's underbelly, where even the pro stars sometimes have to supplement their income the old-fashioned way: by taking it directly from obviously weaker bowlers who somehow manage to be convinced to risk their money. Just as poker games are often won with guns, bowling for money has hazards all its own, something I learned even as a junior bowler hustling games after the league on Saturday.
Roy E. Munson (Woody Harrelson) is such a loser that acting like a total loser is actually called "being Munsoned." The term is named after an incident where some victims of a bowling hustle relieve Roy of his right hand in a gruesome manner which involves bowling equipment. Somehow, even THAT manages to be funny, which speaks to the quality of this film, a film smart enough to have its three main stars on screen for most of the time. The 1979 accident was the result of Roy taking the fall for the hustle engineered by legendary bowler Ernie McCracken (Bill Murray).
Fast forward to 1996, and Roy stumbles across an Amish bowler named Ishmael Boorg (Randy Quaid), the most talented bowler he's ever come across. He offers to coach Ishmael for a $1 million tournament in Reno, Nevada that can save his family farm, but Ishmael is conflicted (the deepest emotion of the film) because he has strayed from the Amish country. Ishmael's brother is the requisite family member sent to bring the stray relative back home, and Vanessa Angel is extra-hot as the love interest for almost every guy in the film.
If you think this is a parody of bowling, the joke may be on you. Hang around enough lanes, in certain places, and you just might see these guys or something very close to them. Just be careful if they look drunk and want to play for money.