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Kingpin is a 1996 Farrelly brothers film starring Woody Harrelson, Bill Murray and Randy Quaid. It was filmed in and around Pittsburgh as a stand in for Scranton, Amish Country and even Las Vegas. As most Farrelly brothers movies, most of the film's humor is gross-out and slapstick. However, it was seen as somewhat more mature than the brother's earlier effort, Dumb & Dumber. The critical reception was mixed and it gets 57% at Rottentomatoes.[1] Roger Ebert had one of the more noteworthy positive reviews, giving it 3.5 out of 4 stars. [2]
This film is number 67 on Bravo's "100 Funniest Movies".[3] DetailsSpoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Kingpin starts with Woody Harrelson starring as Roy Munson, a child bowling prodigy who recently won the 1979 Iowa state amateur bowling championship. Young Roy comes from Ocelot, Iowa, and is all set to leave the town he grew up in to go on the professional bowling tour. Once he does, he wins his first tournament, defeating a none-too-pleased Ernie McCracken in the finals. An unhappy McCracken decides to get back at the young bowler, first by putting sugar in his gas tank, then convincing him to join with him to make extra money by gambling on bowling games. At an alley in the middle of the night, the two bowlers (masquerading as dictionary salesmen) take a group of con men for $3,000, but the con men pay them back by smashing McCracken's rear windshield. Munson gets out of the car to try to defuse the situation, but McCracken fakes him out and drives off, leaving the young bowler at the mercy of the con men.
In modern times, a down-and-out Munson, sporting a hook which he covers with a fake rubber hand, sells bowling alley supplies with little success. He lives in a run-down apartment building in Pittsburgh (as a stand-in for Scranton, Pennsylvania), where his landlady frequently admonishes him for late remittance of his rent. On a sales call at a local alley, Munson catches sight of a young Ishmael Boorg rolling a respectable game. After learning that Ishmael is carrying a 270 average, Munson tries to get him to turn professional. Boorg balks, and we learn he's been bowling against his families wishes and Amish tradition which disallows bowling. Back home, Munson decides to try conning his way into getting an extension on his rent by paying a man (Willie Garson) to stage a mugging on his landlady. The con works...until the landlady, who has come to thank Munson, enters and finds out about the con. Needless to say, she is not the least bit happy, and goes crazy while Munson tries to calm her down, saying there must be something he can do to smooth things over. The landlady agrees...to sex. While throwing up after the experience (to the song Sound of Silence), Munson gets a bowler's magazine tossed at him by the now-satisfied landlady. On the cover, the magazine mentions a tournament at the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nevada with a winner-take-all prize of $1 million (US). Once again, he tries to convince Ishmael to turn professional--this time by posing as an Amish man from Ohio named Hezekiah Munson. While trying desperately to fit in by doing chores (and not succeeding, by most notably running for the dinner bell during a barn raising and giving a hand job to the Boorgs' bull), he once again tries to convince Ishmael to come with him, telling him about the Reno tournament. Ishmael will not bend, but upon receiving news from his father that the bank that owns the mortgage on the community is going to foreclose unless they can come up with $500,000, he reluctantly agrees to go, only because he wants to earn enough to save his community. Munson and Ishmael then go out, trying to make enough money to both get to Reno and participate in the tournament. However, things do not go so well in the first match they play for money, as Ishmael is defeated, only rolling a 186. This prompts Munson to go off on him, saying that it shouldn't have happened because of Ishmael's average...which Munson now discovers was a 15-frame game average (Ishmael explains that the Amish do everything plus a half, while saying that 10 frames was "for Quakers.") Munson then decides that Ishmael is not ready to turn pro, and decides to give up, but Ishmael still wants to go to Reno. Munson lets Ishmael out of his car, where Ishmael said that he "didn't want to be Munsoned out in the middle of nowhere" (which means down and out of luck, like Roy was). After considering this for a second, Munson decides that the right thing to do is keep on going. A botched attempt at the dictionary salesman con leads the two to a game at the mansion of a con man (whose name is Stanley) in the middle of the night. Stanley will resort to anything to win, including using his girlfriend Claudia (Angel) as a teasing distraction. It does not work, as Ishmael wins the match. Stanley then realizes that the two were betting with money they did not have, and the two men are now marked. Luckily, they are able to escape (with Claudia in tow), and continue their journey towards Reno, with Ishmael's bowling skills and Claudia's ability to distract being their keys to victory. One night, Roy decides that he will take Ishmael and ditch Claudia- until Claudia finds out and intercepts them. A fight breaks out (with Claudia winning), and as a result Ishmael runs away, leaving the two to search for him. During the search, Roy and Claudia end up back in Ocelot, where much has changed since he left. The town is now run down and mostly abandoned, and none of his family are there anymore. After some reflection, the search continues in a strip club...where Ishmael has gotten a job! All three are able to escape from the strip club, and soon after they reach Reno. While dining at a buffet restaurant, Roy finally runs into Big Ern, who by this time has become one of the most successful bowlers on tour. During this time, he insults Roy, tries to pick up Claudia, and infuriates Ishmael to the point where he takes a swing at him. However, McCracken ducks, and Ishmael hits the wall behind him with bone-crunching force, rendering him unable to bowl. At the same time Stanley, who has tracked Claudia to Reno, takes her with him. Claudia also takes all the money that she, Ishmael and Munson had earned (which amounted to $43,000), leaving the two men broke and confused as to what will happen next. At this point, Ishmael decides that they still have a chance to win the $1,000,000...if Roy bowls in the tournament instead of him. After a few minutes of trying to convince Ishmael that his idea is stupid, Roy finally acquiesces and signs up for his first tournament as a pro since 1979...only to find out that his pro bowler's dues are 17 years in arrears, and he can't come up with the $38 he needs to pay to compete. Fortunately he is able to use his state championship ring as collateral, and competes. Throughout the tournament, Big Ern rolls through everyone, as many people figured he would. He makes the finals...where he meets up with Roy, who has had a Cinderella run through the tournament, bowling with a prosthetic rubber hand. The final turns out to be a back-and-forth affair, with Munson rolling first in the tenth and final frame. During the frame, Ishmael's brother, Thomas, who was sent to find him, finally does and takes Ishmael away, leaving Roy distracted. As a result his first roll is the dreaded 7-10 split, which he amazingly converts with his second roll, and finally strikes on the third roll of the frame, giving him a 29-pin lead and forcing McCracken to roll three strikes in his half of the frame...which he does, leaving Munson broke and shocked at the sudden turn of events. After a final run in with Stanley and his goons (Claudia had apparently run off with Big Ern), Roy returns home to find a surprise visitor at his door...Claudia, who arrives with the money she stole from him (which had doubled, since Stanley had bet on McCracken in the tournament). Though she tries to convince Roy to split it with her and Ishmael, Roy shows her an endorsement check from Trojan condoms for $500,000 (thanks to his fake hand, which earned him the nickname "Rubber Man"). He promptly gives the check to the Amish community and explains to them what had happened. Ishmael, who was just returning to the community, walks in and finds his friends, and his father tells him what a hero he is to the community for what he has done (Roy had told them that he was the reason that they kept going even when things got rough). In the end, the community is saved, Roy and Claudia hook up, and the movie ends with the community celebrating. Trivia
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