A League of Ordinary Gentlemen (2004)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Christopher Browne

Genre:

Documentary | Sport

Tagline:

Inside The Wild Wild World Of Professional Bowling!

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Bowling

Cast

Timothy Busfield	...	Himself
Wayne Webb
Pete Weber	...	Himself
Walter Ray Williams

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

USA:93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

USA:R | USA:Not Rated

Company:

2929 Productions

Movie Connections:

References The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)

Interesting look at a somewhat forgotten sport

Focusing on the underbelly of professional bowing, ALOOG, shows what happens when three microsoft engineers decide to buy the Professional Bowlers' Association for $5m in the hopes of reviving the sport. With the help of a former Nike executive, Steve Miller, the sport is given a makeover for the 21st century. Some bowlers are skeptical, and some delusional, yet the PBA tour regains a t.v. contract with ESPN. Long days on the road, loneliness, paltry paychecks, and the hope of redemption and riches that fuel these men on make it an interesting movie. The price that is paid in terms of broken marriages, stress, lack of respect all combine to create a vivid portrait.

Of the four bowlers profiled, ex physics professor Walter Williams is by far the most successful. Happily married, he lives comfortably on his bowling winnings, and by movies end has earned an impressive 400k in earnings on tour. The others, a son of a legendary bowler himself, a hall of famer who is alone, and broke at movies end, and a family man on his way up in the tour are presented as three dimensional people not caricatures from a movie like 'Kingpin'. Worth checking out.