Movie Review

Kingpin (1996)

EW's GRADE
D

Details Rated: PG-13; Genre: Comedy; With: Woody Harrelson, Bill Murray and Randy Quaid; Distributor: MGM

Directors Peter and Bobby Farrelly (Dumb and Dumber) may be the unthinking man's Zucker brothers, but their gleeful grossness works in the surprisingly polished Kingpin. Less garish on video, this goof on The Color of Money is an idiot's epic about Roy Munson (Harrelson), a born-to-be-great bowling champ whose rival, ''Big Ernie'' McCracken (Bill Murray), lets hoods destroy Munson's hand. Years later, wearing a rubber appendage, Munson meets an Amish bowling savant (Quaid) and takes him to Reno for a showdown with Big Ernie. While Harrelson and Quaid's white trash/naive Amish combo works, Murray really nails the film's silly, smarmy tone — his comb-over hairstyle gone bad is the Farrellys' funniest inspiration.

Originally posted Jan 10, 1997 Published in issue #361 Jan 10, 1997 Order article reprints

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