If Bill Murray is really being more selective in the film projects he chooses these days, then those he turned down in favor of "Kingpin" must be truly horrible.
Murray's funny turn as a conniving champion bowler is the only point in favor of this exceptionally awful comedy, which makes fun of the disabled, bowlers, religion, the elderly and bald people.
There may yet be worse comedies this year, but there definitely won't be more tasteless ones. Peter and Bobby Farrelly's follow-up to their aptly named (and in-ex-pli-cable smash hit) "Dumb and Dumb-er" tries to mine laughs from every juvenile subject available. From breast jokes to potty humor to sexual banter, there's no stone the two won't look under — or crawl out from under — for yucks.
"Kingpin's" scanty plot concerns Roy Munson (Woody Har-rel-son), a once-promising bowling prospect whose hand was maimed when the victims of a bowling scam exacted their revenge on him. Nearly 20 years later, Roy is now a shifty, unsuccessful, bowling alley equipment salesman in the Midwest.
But when he discovers Ishmael (Randy Quaid), a naive Amish bowling prodigy, in a nearby bowling alley, he thinks he's found his ticket back to the fast lane, so to speak — in particular, a $1 million, winner-take-all bowling tournament in Reno, Nev.
Of course, Ishmael is an unwilling dope who wants nothing to do with Roy and his get-rich-quick scheme — until his Amish leaders cry that their farm may be sold if they're unable to come up with the mortgage payments.
On the subsequent trek West, Roy and Ishmael pick up Claudia (Vanessa Angel), a street-smart beauty who helps them bilk the money for their traveling expenses. When the trio finally gets to Reno, they run into "Big" Ernie McCracken (Murray), one of Claudia's former lovers and Roy's partner in the fateful scam that cost him his hand.
To make matters worse, Ishmael breaks his hand in a scuffle with McCracken, so Roy has to enter the tournament and face his old nemesis, bowling with his prosthetic rubber hand.
As stated before, Murray is quite funny at times, especially when he's taunting opponents or offending waitresses. Unfortunately, Harrelson and Quaid's broad performances make their characters so unlikable that it's hard to root for them against Murray.
And in her first starring role, Angel (from USA Network's "Weird Science") has little more to do than show off her body, which she does in several scenes. She's probably not the only one embarrassed to be in the movie, though — sportscasters Chris Schenkel and Chris Berman, Boston Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens and cult-folkie Jonathan Richman, as well as some pro bowlers, also put in guest appearances.
The Farrelly brothers, who wrote and directed the film, take a few more chances than they did with "Dumb and Dumber." But let's face it, are audiences who like this junior high-level humor really going to get parodies about or references to "The Graduate" and the old Iron Eyes Cody anti-littering commercial?
Like "Dumb and Dumber," "Kingpin" is no soft PG-13 film. The movie takes vulgarity within this rating to a new level, with profanity, partial nudity and a nauseating vomiting sequence.