The greatest movie ever!

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Filmmaker Christopher Browne documents the mission of a group of middle-aged bowlers as they attempt to revitalize the sport and get the television-watching public interested in it again.In the midst of this, the Professional Bowlers Association is purchased by a trio of Microsoft programmers who hire Steve Miller, a Nike marketing guru. Can the new money and the expert bring this nostalgic game back to life? (Seeing as I am writing this in 2015 and the film is from 2004, my guess is no.) We do get to meet some interesting characters, like Walter Ray Williams who uses his knowledge of physics to excel at both bowling and horseshoes. His house is practically a mansion, and then you are left wondering: how much money is there in professional bowling? Apparently a lot.

I need to start by saying that this is a reasonably well-constructed film. The music in particular really worked well and fit the film. Also the selection of the four bowlers to highlight was a great choice as they all were so different. In particular, though depressing, Wayne Webb's profile was the most interesting to me--a guy who literally only had bowling and in the end he lost even that.However, I was not especially taken with the film for several reasons. Fundamentally, the film had the biggest "strike" against it with me in particular--I just didn't find the subject matter interesting. Sure, going bowling is great entertainment, but watching others bowl just didn't appeal to me. Additionally, I was turned off at how obnoxious and crude several of the people were--it was just hard to like them. In particular, the new PBA organizer came off, to me, as a bit of a jerk. Oddly, however, even with his and Pete Weber's rather raw language, I was surprised that the film was rated R--as I've heard much worse in several PG-13 films. Because many won't care much for bowling and still others will be turned off by the R rating, this film appears to have a very, very narrow audience.

I must start by saying that I'm a big bowler/bowling enthusiast. That being said, even if I wasn't that big of a fan of pro bowling, I would still like this movie a lot. But since I am a big fan of the pro tour, it made me appreciate the movie that much more. This documentary follows a couple bowlers (Walter Ray Williams, Jr., Chris Barnes, Wayne Webb, and Pete Weber) during a season on the PBA tour, which is starting to spice up their image. There are several different story lines that are followed throughout the film. Williams and Weber are the two superstars of the tour, and get the majority of the movie for themselves, but it also follows former team USA member and rising star Chris Barnes on his journey to greatness, as well as a PBA hall-of-famer with 20 career tournament wins, Wayne Webb. To me, Wayne Webb's story is the most intriguing. Williams and Weber have made millions of dollars bowling and to the bowling world, they are two of the greatest living bowlers, but you rarely see the other side. Wayne has more than $1 million in earnings in his career, but he's lost it all due to a party-heavy lifestyle, as well as gambling. He's making one last chance to make a living on the tour, and despite being a hall-of-famer, he really plays the underdog role.Overall, this is a great movie which you should take some time to watch. If you don't watch pro bowling or don't know too much about bowling in general, you might not appreciate the movie as much as us bowlers do, but it's still a good solid documentary.

Follows an attempt to revitalize the Professional Bowler's Association, which had fallen on hard times and was in danger of going bankrupt. The "revitalization" mainly seems to consist of a wholescale borrowing from extreme sports and the WWE and is mostly pretty silly to these eyes, although it's clear that a lot of other people dig it.The movie follows a bunch of old-time pro bowlers caught up in the transformation as they wend their way to a "world championship". Most interesting is Wayne Webb, a nice, fragile sort who devoted his life to the sport only to discover that it no longer has much use for him. Webb is a complicated guy, as much a victim of his own weaknesses as he is a victim of his world. It's nice to see that the movie doesn't cheapen him, reduce him down to a stereotypical one-dimension.The movie gets very exciting towards the end, even for this general bowling-skeptic. And it's full of sly jokes -- the best of which is a complex one: the movie begins with the assertion from some bowling fans that the movie KINGPIN presented an exaggerated, stereotypical view of bowling. By the end of the movie, though, we're well into KINGPIN's world, complete with middle-aged men doing crotch shots, cheesy introductions, and a lot of red lighting.