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Created Jan 17, 2009 08:05AM PST • Edited Jan 17, 2009 08:05AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Good 3.0

   Not your typical Farrelly brothers movie, Kingpin is at times ridiculous yet morose – not the long-lasting inanity of There’s Something About Mary, or the disturbing laughter of Me, Myself and Irene, but a quality comedy all the same.

4. Acting

   Very Good 3.5

   Woody Harrelson is for once the straight man, whilst Randy Quaid is the comedy centre as Amish Ishmael. Bill Murray memorably appears, whilst Vanessa Angel provides the feminine side.

5. Male Stars Very Good 3.5

   Harrelson and Quaid are pretty good here – Harrelson presenting Roy Munson as a damaged but good soul, someone burnt before who trusts nobody. Quaid’s Ishmael is an Amish man, innocent of sinful activities but amazing with a bowling ball. Both men play off each other, Harrelson’s seriousness feeding the playful innocence of Quaid.

6. Female Stars Good 3.0

   Vanessa Angel plays the female foil to the two men, and her attractive looks are comically put to use by Munson to get them more cash. The actress is also convincing enough in the dramatic scenes, but as with many a Farrelly film, she does appear to only be there for looks most of the time.

7. Female Costars Good 3.0

   Adjusted accordingly.

8. Male Costars Great 4.0

   Bill Murray is back to his best as Ernie McCracken, the sleazy rival to Munson and the catalyst for the loss of his arm. Having heard Murray ad-libbed most of his lines, it’s testament once again to the actor’s strength as a comedian that he is still one of the best things about the film.

10. Film

    Good 3.0

    The brothers Farrelly manage to direct another ridiculous comedy here, but then that’s what they excel at, and here is one of the better examples of such a film. The dialogue is expectedly good, but the visuals just as hilarious.

11. Direction Very Good 3.5

    The Farrellys once again mix gross-out humour with stupid laughs, but here there’s a little subtlety to much of the comedy, and counteracting it with the pathetic life of Munson gives the film a slightly more morose edge.

12. Play Good 3.0

    As you’d expect with a comedy, there are some great lines, but many of them quite infantile. When they’re good though they are great lines – though nothing much on the soon-to-follow Me, Myself and Irene.

13. Music Barely OK 2.0

    The use of live bands and some songs appropriate to the film provide an adequate soundtrack – nothing special or particularly memorable however.

14. Visuals Very Good 3.5

    The gross-out humour provides much of the visual strength, but the bowling scenes are real and as a result that much more competent than, say, a faked or effects-driven sport comedy.

15. Content

16. Edge

    Risqué 2.0

    As you might expect – a disgusting combination of visuals with sex drives some of the humour here, and the profanity is really the only other thing worth mentioning.

17. Sex Titillating 2.1

18. Violence Gentle 1.0

19. Rudeness Profane 3.0

21. Reality

    Surreal 2.2

    It’s fairly realistic, but the idea of both an Amish man and a man with a prosthetic hand (a bad one at that) bowling in a national championship is a little beyond the realms of normal thought.

22. Circumstantial Surreal 2.2

23. Biological Surreal 2.2

24. Physical Surreal 2.2