A washed-up, one-handed former professional bowler thinks he's found his ticket back into the sport (?) when he discovers an overgrown Amish bowling prodigy and enters him in a $1 million winner-take-all tournament. But first, they've got to beat the man who threw the ex-pro's career in the gutter. From the creators of "Dumb and Dumber."
Roy Munson was once an expert bowler. Now he's a balding, polyester-clad loser, who wears a hook where his bowling hand used to be. The cash-free Roy finds a potential goldmine in Ishmael, an oafish Amish man who's a bowling prodigy. Munson trains the ingenuous, sheltered Ishmael, and enters him in a million-dollar bowling tournament in Reno. But the bumbling pair need money to get there, so with the aid of a sexy babe who joins them, they hustle unsuspecting bowlers as they travel across the country.
During their VERY wacky trek, Ishmael is exposed to some rather un-Amish things -- like a strip club. But when the climactic tournament begins, Roy considers coming out of retirement (hook and all), when he discovers that one of the competitors is Big Ern McCracken, a cheesy, sleazy ex-champ -- who caused Roy to lose his hand.
Released theatrically in the USA July 26, 1996.
Color by Foto-Kem; in DTS Stereo.
Additional cast: Prudence Wright Holmes (Mrs. Boorg), Rob Moran (Stanley Osmanski) and Danny Green (Calvert Munson).
Additional credits: Jim Burke (co-producer) and James B. Rogers (assistant director).
Rated BBFC 12 by the British Board of Film Classification.
DVD Features:
Region 1
Keep Case
Full Frame - 1.33
Additional Release Material:
Deleted Footage
Trailers: Original Theatrical Trailer
Audio Commentary: Peter & Bobby Farrelly - Directors
Additional Products:
Booklet
Featured
Jonathan Richman: American Rock Musician
Review 1:
"...A very funny movie....The leads come together with the joy and assurance of actors who know they are in material that's working....Murray is superb..."
Source: Chicago Sun-Times
p.33 07/26/1996
Review 2:
"...Presented in a terrific procession of gag-inducing gaggery, Harrelson and Murray knock 'em dead every time..."
Source: Total Film
p.129 11/01/2003
Review 3:
"Gleefully tasteless, but with moments of genuine wit."
Source: Premiere
p.169 12/01/2004
Review 4:
"...Uproarious....Harrelson and Quaid throw themselves into their cross-country bowling odyssey with unencumbered acting abandon..."
Source: USA Today
p.4D 07/26/1996
Review 5:
"...KINGPIN is consistently inventive in its wackiness, with a generous dose of gross-out humor..."
Source: Los Angeles Times
p.F10 07/26/1996