A LEAGUE OF ORDINARY GENTLEMEN
Directed by: Chris Browne.
Produced by: Bill Bryan & Alex Browne.
Director of Photography: Ken Seng.
Edited by: Kurt Engfehr.
Music by: Gary Meister.
Released by: Magnolia.
Country of Origin: USA. 93 min. Not Rated.

The word bowling often conjures up images of beer bellies, mullets and quirky middle-aged men - blue collar workers like Al Bundy from Married with Children and Woody Harrelson in Kingpin. It’s a sport or some say just a game to chuckle at, and since the ‘60s and ‘70s, American’s interest in it has dwindled. But if foul mouthed former Nike exec Steve Miller has his way, bowling is back. Three retired Microsoft executives purchased the Professional Bowling Association for $5 million in 2000 and put Miller, a buff George W. Bush look-alike, in charge. His first task: revamping the sport’s image with a corporate extreme makeover. With snappy new shirts, a beefed up Web site and high-five filled tournament entrances à la the National Basketball Association, Miller hopes to revitalize the game.

But A League of Ordinary Gentlemen is not just about bowling’s makeover. Director Chris Browne also touches on the history of bowling and introduces viewers to a handful of the sport’s veterans and up-and-coming stars. Through interviews with them and their families and peeks into the players’ private lives, Browne moves viewers to care about the bowlers. A professional for the past 30 years, Wayne Webb chokes up when describing his three failed marriages. He considers leaving bowling for his part-time karaoke business, leading tipsy middle-aged women in song. A geeky professor type with a degree in physics, bowler Walter Ray Williams Jr., tries in vain to make rock star entrances, and rebel bowler Pete Weber confronts the drug and alcohol abuse that rocked his past.

Throughout, Browne succeeds with his juxtaposition of thought-provoking images; in one scene Miller dines on baked salmon and swirls red wine while Williams and his wife slap together bologna sandwiches in their motor home. By the end, you’ll crane your neck to watch the balls glide down the alley during the dramatic final showdown, the 2003 PBA World Championships. When it’s over, you realize you’ve been watching a bunch of balls with holes roll across the floor for the past hour and a half, but you were invested and intrigued by this tongue-in-cheek but touching character study. Only one major question lingers. The PBA opened its membership to females in 2004. Where are the women bowlers? Deborah Lynn Blumberg
May 26, 2005