Preteen girl looking at a cell phone with her parents

Personalized picks at your fingertips

Get the mobile app on iOS and Android

Get the app
Parents' Guide to

Kingpin

By Charles Cassady Jr., Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 16+

Ribald bowling comedy is vintage Farrelly brothers.

Movie PG-13 1996 114 minutes
Kingpin Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

See all
age 15+

Based on 3 parent reviews

matthewc
matthewc Adult
December 13, 2017
age 14+

A nice slapstick comedy

Parents need to know there are two versions of this film, an original theatrical cut and a director supervised extended edition. The theatrical cut is PG-13 and the extended cut is rated R. Being a Farrely brothers movie there is some crude sexual content/innuendos, a few swear words thrown about, some violence mostly slapstick and drug and alcohol content. Overall a very funny slapstick comedy best suited for 14+
darthloki
darthloki Adult
April 20, 2016
age 14+

Inappropriate at times

I good funny comedy, but can be inappropriate sometimes.
See all 3 parent reviews

What's the Story?

Roy Munson (Woody Harrelson), a rising star in Pennsylvania bowling leagues in the 1970s goes against cocky champ Ernie McCracken (Bill Murray). McCracken tempts him into running a scam that gets poor Munson so roughly handled that his bowling hand is torn off (non-explicitly), replaced by a hook, which he covers with a grotesque rubber hand. More than a decade later Munson's name is synonymous with failure. While on a futile trip to sell bowling supplies, he encounters Ishmael (Randy Quaid), an Amish youth who secretly practices bowling. A million-dollar bowl-off in Reno against the hated McCracken makes Munson go to extremes (like trying to pass as Amish) to enter Ish in the tournament. But Ish isn't as good a bowler as first thought, and that's just the beginning of their travails. After an altercation at a mobster's private alley, they flee with the tough guy's sexy moll (Vanessa Angel), who competes with Munson to control guileless Ish's destiny.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (3 ):
Kids say (2 ):

KINGPIN is the Farrelly Brothers at their more inventive, with sneaky, imaginative, and beautifully timed gags. If you want gross-out humor, this is the brand that works best because it usually (not always) just hints at the extreme stuff, rather than showing too much (although Harrelson's vomiting scenes do tend to go a little far). The gradual corruption of the unworldly Amish "lad" (the burly Quaid is anything but boyish, yet acts the part of a naive innocent beautifully) is hysterical, yet refrains from being actually offensive, since he remains a fundamentally decent person throughout, and his Bible-centered lifestyle (or at least the naivete borne out of it) works a change in the morality of the impious characters of Roy and "whore" Claudia.

Bill Murray's sleazoid villain is a real scene-stealer, and the finale neatly reverses what viewers have come to expect from an "underdog" sports-flick ending, even in goofball comedies like Dodgeball. The longer-than-typical running time for a comedy might make some viewers restless, if they aren't as caught up in the craziness.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the ending of the movie -- which goes against the grain of standard rah-rah sports movies about who wins and who loses. Who is indeed the real winner here? Also, a big part of the humor centers around the innocent Amish character meeting bad behavior in the modern world. What other fish-out-of-water comedies can you think of? Are there some that are more family-friendly than this one?

Movie Details

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.

See how we rate