Kingpin ★★★½
ERNIE McCracken’s comb over with a mind of its own is reason enough to see Kingpin.
As portrayed by Bill Murray, McCracken is first introduced as a sleazy conman who also happens to be a great tenpin bowler and goes on to win a championship by hook and crook, at the same time ensuring an up-and-coming rival is taken out.
Years later we are re-introduced to McCracken as a kidney-belt wearing veteran who still fancies himself an icon and ladies’ man despite the middle-aged arrogance, belly and that great hairstyle that seems to grow and unfurl in different directions with each edit.
Murray actually doesn’t have a lot of lines in the film, but those he does have and the visual humour he nails with gusto to give one of his most memorable performances in a low-brow comedy.
Almost matching him are Woody Harrelsen and Randy Quaid as fellow bowlers who find themselves teaming up to bring down the all-conquering McCracken (love that name).
This trio of performances is the main reason to see Kingpin. While the laugh meter is fairly high, the film is too long and needs their charisma to pull the audience through to the end. One of the main problems is that for a third of the film Murray’s character doesn’t feature at all.
Released in 1996, this was the middle film of a successful run by American directing brothers Bobby and Peter Farrelly. With Dumb and Dumber, Kingpin and There’s Something about Mary, the Farrellys have never surpassed that initial body of work.
The first character we meet is Roy Munston (Harrelsen) as a child in the backyard with dad learning to master the art of tenpin bowling. Skip forward a few years and naive young adult Roy is heading for his first tournament in the big city and hopefully a shot at fame. But he doesn’t happen on the guile and treachery of the opposition, in the form of McCracken who quickly recognises the threat this up-and-comer poses.
McCracken tricks Roy into helping him scam some hoodlums and, when they are revealed, abandons him to a fate that ends with Roy’s bowling hand being fed into a ball return mechanism as punishment.
Fast-forward again and Roy is a one-handed alcoholic has-been who has to pay his rent by having sex with his much older landlady (a great scene). But life starts to repeat when Roy comes across another talented young bowler, Ishmael (Randy Quaid), who could be his ticket back to the big-time and solution to his money woes.
But Ishamel is a Quaker and Roy has to go undercover in the community to convince him to give up his ideals and join him on the road to riches. This leads to another couple of great gags involving Roy ‘milking a cow’ and ‘shoeing a horse’.
The rest is just as silly and builds to the inevitable final showdown at a major tournament. If you’re in a stupid mood, alone or with friends, Kingpin is up there as one of the first choices.