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List Price: $14.98 | | Label: MGM (Video & DVD)
Salesrank: 4645
Released: May 18, 1999 |
| Our Price: $34.98 |
| Used Price: $2.39 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
The guys who brought you There's Something About Mary and Dumb and Dumber strike again with a gut-busting farce that's "just too funny" (Los Angeles Times)! Woody Harrelson, Randy Quaid and Vanessa Angel come up winners in this riotous, joke-a-second comedy with plenty of balls. Harrelson is Roy Munson, a pro bowler who seems destined for greatness, or as close to greatness as a bowler can get. But after a run-in with angry competitors, Roy finds himself sadder, wiser and minus his bowling hand! Years later, he meets the naive Ishmael (Quaid), an Amish bowling whiz. Together they set out for a million-dollar tournament in Reno, and along the way pick up Claudia (Angel), a sexy vixen with brains, attitude and really big...ideas. With her help, they make it to the tournament. But will Roy and Ishmael win the big match and score fame and fortune...or will all their hopes and dreams go barreling down the gutter?
Description of Kingpin:
The team behind Dumb and Dumber and There's Something About Mary--two really stupid, gross-out films that worked and were quite funny--also made this really stupid, gross-out comedy that doesn't work and isn't funny at all. Woody Harrelson stars as a former bowling phenomenon with a hook for a hand, and Randy Quaid is an Amish farmer with a hidden talent for pins. The two join forces and get a sexy business partner (Vanessa Angel), and the film starts looking more and more like a jokey variation of The Color of Money. The Color of Money, however, didn't feature jokes about having oral sex with a hideous landlady or defecating in a sink or dragging disgusting stuff out of one's teeth with a length of floss. Bill Murray provides some much-needed relief as Harrelson's ex-partner turned rival. How come this stuff is obnoxious while the equally perverse punch lines of There's Something About Mary are a riot? It's a great mystery, all right, but there it is. --Tom Keogh
Kingpin Reviews:
Kingpin 
2009-10-14 - Great DVD shot right here in Reno. Saw some friends used as extras. All in all highly entertaining, with very few slow moments. Great new sport "boob boxing" may have been created!
Great Purchase 
2009-06-03 - This item was a great purchase. Although I haven't had a chance to watch it yet, the item was in great condition. It was still wrapped in the original packaging and the disc had no scratches or marks. It was also delivered in a timely manner.
For Pete's sake why do good movies go out of print? Who's Pete?
2009-03-21 - I am writing this review because I am shocked. I am shocked because I see a caption from some moronic half-critic saying that this movie is bad. They also drew up a comparison with "the Color of Money(hello: lame!)" and the other 2 movies that Farrelly brothers made before and after this one and made it seem that this one is the lesser.
I am guessing that this person liked Top Gun and didn't like This is Spinal Tap.
This is another item I am willing to review because it never get's old. I can never watch it enough to get sick of it. Fine, maybe I don't require CGI, budgets, correagraphy, tears, or tears and brain-damage from watching Ashton Kutcher. Or some other half-actor that is supposed to be some kind of iconic entertainer. Sorry to Ashton Kutcher if I hurt his feelings but he does give people brain damage and make them want to cry for being in the same universe.
Ehem... Now that I am done rambling about absolutely nothing let's move on to reviewing this delicious DVD.
I liked the VHS version because they cut out some completely unneeded seens but those same seens are actually good and add to the humor and character development. They sometimes add to the vomit development as well.
This movie is probably in my top five favorite movies including Tom Jones which is also constantly extinct.
The more people try to mold everything in entertainment to what's real and mold themselves to unreallistic expectations in real life they become dumb and mean. In turn that makes more new things that suck come out and saturate our means of entertainment and attention spans. To put it more clearly TV and radio are filled with a lot of crap. Unvirtuous things like sex and money which I agree are great but mean absolutely nothing without some kind of plot. I admit there is still some good out there. I am rambling about nothing again. I apologize.
...catches you off guard with simple, yet clever humor with a great plot and cast that cannot be beat. It is also somewhat of a pioneer in sports comedies that came in the following years. I recommend this movie to all because it is fun, has a great soundtrack, and does mirror real-life situations with an imaginitive perspective and humor that leaves a feeling of serenity so you don't get whiny like me.
There's my review. Good, simple things always die and bad things always attract the simple-minded. Maybe I'm a jerk but so is everyone else and I hope you enjoy it. Oh, yeah and this movie is really entertaining as well.
not so good 
2008-12-07 - I ordered from this person because other reviewers had given this seller a good rating. I haven't really bought anything on ebay before so I had no point of reference except for those reviews. I received the package much later than the person said they would send it. It wasn't a huge deal since it was a Christmas gift that I ordered in early November - I still got it in plenty of time for the holiday thanks to my planning, not the seller's. The description said the dvd was "like new". I suppose that's right if you consider "like new" things to look like they've been run over by a truck and have other people's names written on them in permanent marker! I guess we'll all have a laugh on Christmas Eve when we open the stocking stuffers...
Definitely not as funny as I figured it would be... 
2008-08-08 - I've never been a huge fan of the Ferrelly brothers (they surely aren't the Coen's) but this film starred Bill Murray (or so I thought) and I just love him so I had to watch it at least once. Truth be told, Murray is hilarious here in every frame he's in, but sadly he's just not in enough. Woody Harrelson, and to a lesser degree Randy Quaid, are funny in their own rights here, but neither of them can truly carry this film and it isn't really until Murray comes onto the screen that my attention was gotten and I found myself fully amused.
`Kingpin' tells the story of Roy Munson, a young guy who quickly rose to the top of the bowling world due to his dynamic skill and training. When he makes enemies with the greedy Ernie McCracken he finds that all is not fair in love and bowling. After an altercation that leaves Roy without his bowling hand he slips away into obscurity. The love of the game has not left Roy though, and when he catches a glimpse of the Amish Ishmael Boorg and sees his raw potential for the game he offers to manage him. Thankfully Ishmael's family is in dire need of some quick cash and so he agrees to allow Munson to train him for an upcoming tournament. Along the way they face some difficulties, and when they finally make it to the tournament they have to face McCracken.
The truth of the matter is that `Kingpin' only works some of the time. A lot of the gags fall short, especially after a repeat viewing. Woody Harrelson had a good year in `96, but that was due to his Oscar nominated performance in `The People vs. Larry Flynt', not this underwhelming comedy. His performance isn't bad, but I just feel that the overall material is too weak to really sustain the audience. Murray is really the only standout, mostly because his delivery is so naturally funny (thanks to his adlibbing just about everything he does). When McCracken is on the screen I am in stitches; but when he leaves I am bored.
