KINGPIN
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1996 Scott Renshaw
(MGM) Starring: Woody Harrelson, Randy Quaid, Vanessa Angel, Bill Murray. Screenplay: Barry Fanaro, Mort Nathan. Producers: Brad Krevoy, Steve Stabler, Bradley Thomas. Directors: Peter Farrelly, Bobby Farrelly. Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
Have you ever had an 11-year-old try to tell you a joke? If so, you will probably recognize a couple of typical qualities. First, the enthusiasm of the joke-teller far exceeds his mastery of the basic principles of comic timing; second, the joke is almost certainly one you've heard before, and probably one you told when you were 11. Peter and Bobby Farrelly (DUMB AND DUMBER) are still those 11-year-olds at heart, and their sense of humor seems to have matured only marginally. If you laugh at their films, it is probably for the same reasons you might laugh at the 11-year-old's joke: their eagerness to amuse is endearing, or there's a bit of the 11-year-old in you as well. KINGPIN is often disgusting, but that is usually when it is at its funniest. It is also often slow, and that is when it is an effort to get through.
Woody Harrelson stars as Roy Munson, who was Iowa's State Bowling Champion in 1979. That year, as a rookie pro, he makes the mistake of beating hot-shot Ernie "Big Ern" McCracken (Bill Murray), who turns out to be a very sore loser. McCracken sets Roy up during an attempted con, and when Roy is found out the angry victims shove his bowling hand into the ball return. Seventeen years later, Roy is an alcoholic with a hook for a right hand, but he sees a shot at returning to the big time when he spots Ishmael Boorg (Randy Quaid) at the local bowling alley. Roy offers to train Ishmael for a $1 million pro tournament, but Ishmael happens to be a devout Amish, with no interest in such things. It is only when the Boorg family farm is threatened by debt that Ishmael agrees to hit the road with Roy, and misadventures ensue.
KINGPIN is a film which tends toward the parody style of the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker (AIRPLANE!) films, with obvious homages to THE NATURAL, THE COLOR OF MONEY, THE GRADUATE and INDECENT PROPOSAL among others. The operative word here is "obvious." If obviousness were water, KINGPIN would be the Pacific Ocean, giving each gag plenty of lead-up time so you can anticipate the punch line and spend a moment groaning as it is underlined for you. When KINGPIN isn't obvious, it's sick. Having covered diarrhea, mucus and urine in DUMB AND DUMBER, the Farrellys move right along their Bodily Emissions Hit Parade to vomit and semen. And when KINGPIN isn't sick, it's repetitious. There are more individual injuries to male genitalia in this film than in an entire season of "America's Funniest Home Videos."
The thing about KINGPIN is that even when it is obvious, sick and/or repetitious, it is still often very funny. I will be very frank about this: it is funny in about as base a way as it is possible to be funny, in a way that will be just plain unfunny to many people, or funny in a way that might make you embarrassed to admit you found it funny. It is funny in that adolescent way that can't help but snicker at gags about hardened nipples, farmers and sheep, or oral sex with a painfully unattractive woman. There are a few moments of inspiration in KINGPIN, particularly a hilarious turn by Bill Murray as Roy's obnoxious rival which harkens back to his smirking glory days, but this really isn't a film meant to operate on an inspired level. It is the kind of leering, slobbering, juvenile comedy Mel Brooks is still trying to make, but appears to have forgotten how to make, and it sneaks past your sense of indignation, into the most primitive part of your backbrain, and gets you laughing.
That said, KINGPIN still isn't particularly satisfying, mostly because it makes the mistake of trying to create an actual dramatic subtext. At some point, the Farrellys and screenwriters Barry Fanaro and Mort Nathan stop trying to parody THE COLOR OF MONEY and start trying to _be_ THE COLOR OF MONEY, with Vanessa Angel as a streetwise lady playing Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio to Quaid's Tom Cruise and Harrelson's Paul Newman. Harrelson is left in the uncomfortable position of playing a grotesquerie one minute and an ostensibly sympathetic loser the next, and he isn't nimble enough to pull it off. KINGPIN really crawls during its final half hour as the Farrellys play up the redemption story, proving once again that a scattershot comedy of this kind really has to pull in at around 90 minutes. Then again, lack of timing is just one more way the Farrellys are like 11-year-old joke-tellers. If you are over 21, KINGPIN will probably be an erratic ride at best. But if you are able to identify with the 11-year-old in you, hold on to your sides.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 gutter balls: 5.
-- Scott Renshaw Stanford University http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~srenshaw
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