Film

Kingpin

Name: Kingpin
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1996
Cast: Woody Harrelson, Randy Quaid, Vanessa Angel, Bill Murray, Chris Elliott

A gloriously stupid underdog comedy from the Farrelly Brothers, in which a washed-up bowler with a rubber hand grooms an Amish naif into a professional bowling champion to settle an old score. It's broad, filthy, occasionally gross, and weirdly sweet underneath all the slapstick. Watch it for the specific joy of Bill Murray playing the most odious man alive.

TMDb rating

6.5

If you liked this

Dumb and Dumber1994no page yet

Same directors, same commitment to gross-out gags wrapped around a genuinely tender friendship. If you liked the tone of Kingpin, this is the purer, dumber original strain of it.

But Even less plot than Kingpin, if that's possible. It's basically two hours of vibes and vomit jokes.

There's Something About Mary1998no page yet

The Farrelly Brothers at their commercial peak — the gag-per-minute rate is relentless and the cast commits fully to every indignity.

But The romance plot takes it more seriously than Kingpin ever does, which slows the chaos down a notch.

Happy Gilmore1996no page yet

Another disreputable sport, another furious underdog with anger issues, another sport comedy that somehow becomes genuinely beloved by the sport itself.

But Sandler's aggression is a very different comic engine to Harrelson's weary sleaze — louder, angrier, less rueful.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Hustler1961

Same skeleton as Kingpin — a bitter old hustler grooming a naive young talent to settle a score — but stripped of every laugh and left to sit in its own bleakness.

A moody, black-and-white pool-hall drama about a hustler and the protégé he corrupts — Kingpin's premise played entirely straight, with real menace and real loss.

But No jokes at all. This is a tragedy about ambition and self-destruction, not a comedy about rubber hands.

The Big Lebowski1998

Bowling alleys as sacred space and a shaggy, low-stakes plot about man-children who refuse to grow up. The Coens' version of the same lanes-and-losers universe, but stoned.

But Far weirder and more meandering — if you wanted plot momentum, this deliberately withholds it.

Tin Cup1996

A washed-up hustler-turned-mentor chasing redemption through sport, this time golf. Same bones as Kingpin, played slightly straighter and more romantic.

But Considerably gentler and more earnest — don't expect the gross-out anarchy.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby2006

Will Ferrell doing for NASCAR what Kingpin did for bowling: turning a niche, faintly unglamorous sport into a stage for total comic commitment.

But Ferrell's brand of escalating absurdity is broader and sillier than the Farrellys' grubbier, more character-based humour.

Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby poster

DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story2004

A ragtag team, a ludicrous sport, a rival villain having the time of his life — the whole Kingpin engine, retooled for the 2000s comedy crowd.

But Thinner characters, safer jokes — this is Kingpin with the edges sanded off.

Major League1989

The blueprint for the modern underdog sports comedy — a terrible team, a sleazeball owner, and a lot of very quotable trash talk.

But Baseball-specific humour and an ensemble structure mean less focus on any single odd-couple pairing.

Zoolander2001

If you just want more of Bill Murray having strange, magnetic fun in a dumb comedy, here he is again, being gleefully odd.

But It's fashion-world satire rather than sports comedy — a much thinner connective thread to Kingpin than the others here.

A League of Ordinary Gentlemen2004no page yet

The actual real-world version of Kingpin's fictional bowling circuit — same washed-up hopefuls, same faded glory, same desperate attempts at a comeback, but true.

A documentary following real PBA bowlers trying to save professional bowling from irrelevance — funnier, sadder, and stranger than fiction ever could be.

But It's slow, low-budget, and genuinely about the business struggles of a fading sport, not a wisecracking farce.

Witness1985no page yet

Ishmael's naive Amish innocence colliding with a corrupt outside world is Kingpin's comic engine — Witness runs the exact same collision as a serious, even dangerous, drama.

Harrison Ford stars as an outsider thrown into an Amish community, and the film takes seriously what Kingpin plays for laughs — the collision between Amish innocence and the corrupting world outside.

But It's a tense, violent thriller with romance at its centre — nothing broad or silly about it whatsoever.