Kingpin (1996)

Lowest-common-denominator humor from Dumb and Dumber creators Peter and Bobby Farrelly. Woody Harrelson stars as Roy Munson, a broken-down, liquored-up, one-handed bowling pro who coaches a large, simple, goonily coiffed Amish natural talent (Randy Quaid) to bowling greatness. Bill Murray is Roy's professional nemesis, a big-gut weasel in garish rodeo wear. All three millionaire actors have a happy (and, presumably, lucrative) time being clowns. You must, of course, be a fan of blithely moronic comedy to step up to the box office for this thing — 14-year-old boys are in for a heckuvan excellently spewy time. But even if you are a connoisseur of jokes about vomit, big chunks of stuff excavated from mossy teeth by dental floss, and really bad comb-overs (are you doubled over with soda-out-your-nose laughter yet?), the humor-to-gross out ratio is perilously low here. Is this what D.W. Griffith had in mind? D

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