Left to fend for himself, Roy is beaten savagely by the men he and Bernie had just conned in a violent montage that ends with Roy’s hand being thrust into a bowling ball return and severed. Not long afterward, the two men are confronted in the parking lot, and Ernie-being the selfish and spineless traitor that he is-ditches Roy by peeling off in his beat-up car. The ploy pays off (at least at first) when Munson knocks down a 7-10 split, winning Ernie and himself some quick money. The hustle-feigning amateurish talent to coax a competitor into betting big-very much feels like a nod to The Hustler (a much classier sports movie). In what turns out to be a life-changing grift, Roy’s role is to pretend to be incompetent during a bowling match with money on the line. It doesn’t take long before he is lured into a racket with Ernie McCracken (Bill Murray), a bowling rival who recruits Roy as a sidekick to his schemes. Unfortunately, Roy’s naïvety quickly lands him in trouble. Written by Barry Farano (who also penned Men in Black II and I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry) and Mort Nathan (who directed National Lampoon’s Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj and Boat Trip), Kingpin follows the life of Roy Munson (Woody Harrelson), a bowling prodigy from small-town Ocelot, Iowa who heads out on a nationwide professional bowling circuit after winning the 1979 Iowa State championship. Raunchy, ribald, and yet intermittently warm-hearted, the movie is clearly a collective effort-the byproduct of a comedic team who are all tapped into the same juvenile wavelength. Directed by the Farrelly Brothers at the peak of their popularity, Kingpin’s bawdy humor fits their sensibilities (see Dumb and Dumber and There’s Something About Mary) so perfectly it is a shock to learn that they did not write the screenplay.
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