Kingpin

Released 1996
Stars Woody Harrelson, Randy Quaid, Vanessa Angel, Bill Murray
Directed by Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly
 
As "Kingpin" opens in 1969 in Ocelot, Iowa, a promising young man is told, "You can apply everything about bowling to your daily life." Only 10 years later, that young man is the winner of the $1,000 Odor-Eaters Bowling Championship. His name is Roy Munson (Woody Harrelson), and his future lies ahead of him, as indeed everyone's does. Then he meets Ernie McCracken (Bill Murray).

McCracken is everything Munson will never be, a cocky, wise-cracking bowler who seems mighty sophisticated to a kid from Ocelot, as he calls for his favorite drink ("Tanqueray and Tab"). Ernie spots Roy's great potential, and uses him in an attempt to hustle an alley full of very tough bowlers. They spot Roy as a ringer, are enraged, and end his bowling career by amputating his hand in the ball return.

So begins a long, dark decade for Roy, who without his bowling hand finds nothing to do but drink himself into oblivion in a scummy boarding house. He fits his arm with a hook, and buys a cheap rubber hand to wear over it, to display his state championship ring. Life is bad. Then one day in an alley he meets a kid with tremendous bowling talent. So begins the odyssey of "Kingpin," a very funny movie, and sometimes even funnier than that.

Summary by Roger Ebert