The crass breakout Farrelly Brothers comedy still holds up

Rating: 7/10 (12 July 2018)

I saw this back in the day in the theater at a midnight showing and loved it. "Kingpin" was a box office disappointment upon it's original release, but it found it's audience on home video and became something of a cult classic. The set-up is basically "The Natural" except instead of a 1920s Robert Redford having his baseball career cut short, we have a 1970s Woody Harrelson's promising professional bowling career cut short. Harrelson resurfaces 20 something years later to mentor an Amish bowling prospect, Randy Quaid, in order to get payback against bowling star Bill Murray, who was responsible for Harrelson's career ending bowling injury. Suffice to say, it's not the story that made this film memorable. It's the many over-the-top hilarious gags and some surprisingly earnest characters that make this film still hold up today. Some of he best gags involve Harrelson's rubber hand, the foul mouthed Lin Shaye, Harrelson trying to pass as Amish, Quade getting some cold drinks, and an odd Indecent Proposal sequence involving a cameo by Chris Elliott, but it's really Bill Murray who steal every scene that he's in, whether he's mugging after losing a bowling match, doing a self serving infomercial, or something as small as his bad hair combover, he is absolutely hilarious in what might arguable be his best comedic performance (and that's saying something). It's really too bad Murray's part is a supporting role, but it may be his limited screen time that makes his performance so special. Writer/directors Bobby and Peter Farrelly had previously made the popular (and I believe critically underrated) "Dumb and Dumber," but it was this film that helped pave the way for the slew of raunchy 90s comedies that followed, such as "American Pie," the Farrellys own "There's Something About Mary," all the way up to "Superbad." The 80s certainly had it's fair share of Porky's inspired raunch, but this new generation is a bit more story and character driven than their sleazier 80s counterparts. The main weakness of "Kingpin" is that the sappy maudlin elements of the story, which do certainly make the characters more empathetic, are often incongruous with the raunchy and absurd comedic elements. It's hard to go from Harrelson "milking" a bull or "paying" his rent to his hideous landlady to caring whether he finds redemption and self respect. However, "Kingpin" remains an enjoyably crass and rude comedy that although not be for all tastes is a hilarious treat if you can get into the spirit of the film. Vanessa Angel, Richard Tyson, Rob Moran, and Daniel Greene also appear in the film.