Kingpin (1996)

Kingpin (1996)
Motion Picture Corporation of America / Rysher Entertainment(USA)
Comedy / Sport
Cert: 12 | 113 min

“Ishmael always was a strange boy, but he means well.”

Think of a masterpiece of cinema and your thoughts are likely to turn to epic films. After all, those lists of essential movies tend to be populated with sweeping dramas such as Gone With the Wind or Lawrence of Arabia. To be a true work of art, a film has to involve huge vistas and over-emotive performances. At least, that’s what we have come to believe, in no small part down to the major awards ceremonies each year; it has been said before, but it is the dramas that pick up the gongs come Oscars time, not the comedies. But does that mean that a gross-out comedy from the mid-1990s can never be deemed a ‘masterpiece’? Can a movie featuring bum jokes – and worse – really stand tall alongside the likes of Citizen Kane?

Writers and directors the Farrelly brothers (Peter and Bobby) had just launched Jim Carrey into the stratosphere with their first movie, Dumb and Dumber, and were on their way to their own biggest hit with There’s Somthing About Mary. But between those two comedic giants came a film centred on bowling. Of course, being the Farrelly brothers, it contained its fair share of gross-out humour and inappropriate jokes. Naive but talented ten-pin bowler Roy Munson (Woody Harrelson) faces the wrath of professional champion Ernie McCracken (the always excellent Bill Murray) after beating him in the national championships. Years later, Munson (who lost a hand when McCracken convinces him to take part in a con which goes wrong) spies a talented youngster (Randy Quaid) who might be able to help him regain the title – and give him back his self-respect.

While that may seem like the plot for a weepy movie-of-the-week, in the hands of the Farrelly brothers, it becomes the basis for one near-the-knuckle joke after another. Harrelson, a fine actor who has a natural flare for comedy, hams it up as Munson who is determined to win back the title at any cost, while Quaid seems to be having the time of his life as the Amish man who escapes into the world to live out his dream. But it is Murray who steals the show, firstly as the younger man out to get his revenge on Munson, then 25 years later as his over-confident champion once again finds himself up against his former rival. Both Harrelson and Murray look suitably disgusting as their older selves, creating grotesque caricatures of themselves.

It certainly seems that the film aims to disgust as much as it makes you laugh, with many of the jokes an acquired taste. Fortunately the highly talented cast are able to make many of them hit home. There has always been a sense with the early films of Peter and Bobby that they were simply throwing everything they could at the screen, in the hope that some of it would stick; they are fortunate that they were able to attract skilled comedians who could weather some of the poorer material in order to create something much funnier than it should. It is the kind of humour that teenage boys find funny as puberty kicks in rather than a mature comedy; there is no room for clever satire or gentler moments. Instead you are left with a barrage of jokes which never let up, sometimes at the expense of creating any coherence in the plot. But, for the most part it is very funny. And while it may not be on the scale of The Lord of the Rings or The Godfather, it does its job well; if you like your humour low-brow, this will hit the spot every time.

Underappreciated masterpiece or justifiably forgotten? While the American Academy has been often accused of a snooty attitude towards comedies, it is unlikely that the Farrelly brothers’ 1990s output would ever have qualified. But while this was never going to worry the Oscar crowd for its nuanced script and sensitive performances, it does exactly what it says on the tin. And while this is not the Farrelly brothers’ best movie, it still manages to tick all the right boxes. And although the cast are all excellent in their roles, it is Murray who steals the show. It even makes you wonder if the better film would have followed his character rather than the others. It may not be a conventional masterpiece but, in the genre of gross-out comedy, it is one of the best.

You can watch the trailer here:

Next time: Down Terrace (2009)