Very Cool!!!

Boring

A lot of fun.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

I put off watching this movie for a long time. I'm not sure what I had against it; I guess I assumed it was just some raunchy piece of trash. Well, I decided that was what I was in the mood for, so I gave it a chance. I don't understand how anyone can find this funny. It's mind boggling to me that this is a Farrelly brothers movie it's so tame. People write about it being crude and outrageous, but it was actually one of the most boring movies I've seen in a long time. It's not even edited like a comedy--something feels off the entire running time. Sometimes I'm put off by a movie when it turns out to be something other than what I expected. In this case, it wasn't that my expectations were too high, it was just that I was watching one of the lamest, least entertaining comedies ever put to film.

Peter Farrelly and Bobby Farrelly made their names in crude comedies that pushed the envelope. In Kingpin they display more of their trademark zaniness and crudeness that they showed in Dumb and Dumber Woody Harrelson plays tenpin bowler named Roy Munson, a potential champion who ended up losing his bowling hand after being tricked by a fellow bowler (Bill Murray).Many years later living a deadbeat life where he does not have enough money to pay the rent. He meets a devout Amish man called Ishmael (Randy Quaid) who he sees as a potential champion and gets him to leave his community and head to Reno to take part in a championship where he meets up again with Bill Murray, now a sleazy bowling superstar with a bad comb-over.The film has plenty of crude humour with Harrelson getting into mishaps with his fake hand and hook. There is low brow humour such as milking a bull believing it to be a cow. Murray pops back at the end with hair that has a life of its own.The film starts off brightly, its refreshingly silly and funny. However it loses its absurdity once they hook up with Claudia (Vanessa Angel) and tries to add depth to the characters. It loses its spontaneity and only becomes sporadically amusing.

I've only recently decided to somewhat commit to participating in contributing reviews to IMDb and reality hit me in the face when realising that it was 17 years ago when this classic came out. 17 years, and boy do i miss these kind of films, When the Farrelly brothers made great comedy movies. Of course they have taken their feet of the pedals, but their first 4 were instant classics.It may not be a laugh out loud film that has you giggling all the way through, but it has a certain charm to it (despite the crudeness) that keeps you smiling throughout. There are plenty of hilarious moments and great one liners. Bill Murray is fantastic as Big Ern and gels brilliantly with Woody Harrelson. The rest of the cast play their parts to make this a must see film.

This film is absolutely hilarious, deadpan stupid at times, and more reserved and subtle at others - its the perfect hangover cure. Harrelson is fantastic as a hard-done-by bowler who got done over ('Munsoned' is the phrase later used, which is his actual name in the film to his annoyance) and is out for another shot at the big time. His sidekick is an innocent religious countryman whose style contrasts well with all the others - Murray is just great, but could have been in it more. One scene, for me, really stands out. Certainly in terms of Gramsci esque masculine humour - Murray is in a eaterie with Harrelson and tells him to 'go outside and eat that', then he tells a waitress to come back after washing off her perfume, finally he says 'hi' to a fit bird sat across the way. Her mum says 'hi' and Murray says 'not you - hi'. The younger fit bird smiles and says 'hi'. This film is just great.