Kingpin (UK)

OK comedy from the Farelly brothers. Not as good as Dumb & Dumber or There`s Something About Mary though.

Disc is pretty average (useless featurette and trailer). Still, I got it for £9 in HMV (it was the price that drew me in) so I guess it was worth that much.

Kingpin is often thought of as a poor-relation to the Farrelly`s other films and I often wonder if I`m the only one that really appreciates it!. I liked Dumb & Dumber of course (who doesn`t?), but I think the gap between the two films is either non-existent or Kingpin is slightly ahead. I`d be hard pressed to find someone who actually agrees with me on that, but the Farrelly`s themselves say that Kingpin is just like D/Dumber but with a more coherent plot.

Woody Harrelson is impressive as Roy Munson, a derelict ex-bowling champion that lost his hand years ago (after a hustle badly backfired). Ernie McCracken (Bill Murray) was largely responsible for the accident and Roy`s now understandably quite bitter and twisted. He now leads a pitiful life filled only with alcohol and degrading acts which allow him to keep his accommodation. Until, that is, he comes across a talented Amish guy (played by Randy Quaid), who he tries to steer in the direction of a big-money, winner-takes-all Bowling competition. He offers to take him under his wing and help develop his skills (with an eye on that prize money of course!). Bill Murray turns up again later on in the film and his character is about as vile and ego-centric as he`s ever portrayed!. As you can probably tell from this brief synopsis, it`s a good old-fashioned "against the odds" tale of triumph over adversity and even covers themes of redemption.

I don`t want to make it sound intelligent or worthy, because in all honesty it`s just another laughter-filled, fun-fuelled bit of fluff. As fluff goes though it`s extremely effective and enjoyable. There are plenty of OTT bad-taste laughs, but they`re evenly tempered with good-natured moments and the overall tone is entertainingly feel-good. There are a few cliches here and there, like a rich playboy who mistreats his "valet" girlfriend (Vanessa Angel). As the film is so tongue-in-cheek and intentionally stupid, you can`t really complain about stereotypes or contrivances.

The disc is okay, but disappointing in some areas. Firstly, the sound is only Pro-Logic (boo!), so anyone with a 5.1 set-up will feel like they`re missing out. Secondly, the extra`s are very weak, consisting only of a trailer and a brief featurette (which is barely longer than the trailer!). On the plus side though, the picture is a truly superb 1.85:1 anamorphic effort. So it`s a good demo disc for showing off the superior quality of DVD visuals (but unfortunately not audio).
Basically, this is a tremendously entertaining comedy film, which although not to everyone`s taste (and admittedly silly in places) is none-the-less very underrated in it`s own way. What`s not to like?, the humour comes thick and fast and it`s one of those movies that stands up very well to repeat viewings.

Lots of funny moments, the horse stable scene was hillarious, the hook/hand jokes became a little tiresome but apart from that you`ll have a good laugh. Extras were useless, trailer(never have seen the point of including these on DVD`s) plus a rubbish feature on the film.

The R1 version is alot better.
Firstly it`s the proper 2:35:1 aspect ratio(not the cropped 1:85:1 EIV version!)and has Dolby Digital 5.1 sound!
Secondly it is a R-rated version which has a few more scenes than R2.
And lastly it has an audio commentary by the Farrelly brothers!
So R1 vs R2, in this case it`s gotta be R1.