Pound for pound, "Kingpin" is a joy to watch. Briefly, it is a redemption tale of a bowler who falls from grace. Bill Murray is slimy and repulsive as the hustler who causes that fall, clear up to the end (*Oh, the COMB-overs in this movie...watch and see... the scariest thing is that anyone who has ever been to a professional bowling tournament knows that there are guys there who really think that they can grow their remaining hair three feet long to cover up a bald spot the size of a Wal-Mart parking lot. This is not a special effect, folks. This is reportage.)
In any case... Randy Quaid delivers a total star turn as Ish the Amish bowling prodigy. The whole idea of an Amishman bowler is covered with humor while still showing respect for the Amish way of life. "You only bowl ten frames." Quaid's character states at one point. "We bowl fifteen. We do everything you do plus half. That's how we survive."
Vanessa Angel really needs to get more movie gigs. She was credible, competent and a living work of art to watch as the female foil for Woody Harrellson. At the Academy Awards that year, her breasts won one award each for Best Stage Combat, for the fight scene with Woody in the parking lot.
And that touches on something else: Most of the comedy in "Kingpin" is directly physical.. but once in a while, when least expected, they break into some sight gags well worthy of the Naked Gun series. The catch is that the sight gags are misdirected, and thus all the funnier.
Example (without spoiling anything): Angel, Quaid and Harrelson are on the road hustling tournaments to make enough money to get to Reno for the Amateur Championship, where Quaid plans to bowl his Amish community out of a bank foreclosure. Angel is wearing the most revealing outfits possible to distract their fellow bowlers. It works..until they get to cow country, and the old rednecks tip their hats at her and bowl on.
Ish the Amishman whispers something...and soon every bowler on the rednecks' team is blushing, stammering and dropping their balls, looking over their shoulders at the sheep that Ish has brought in and tied up by the lanes.
The outtakes in "Kingpin" are also hysterical..at least the rear-view mirror one at the very end. Those who have weak stomachs should probably skip the scene where Woody pays his rent.
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