|
|
| Thursday, May 22, 2008 11:54 AM |
| On the Viewer - A League of Ordinary Gentlemen |
 by Fëanor |
A League of Ordinary Gentlemen is not a parody of Alan Moore's League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (as intriguing as that sounds); it's a documentary about professional bowling. More specifically, it follows what happens to a handful of the most high profile professional bowlers, and to bowling in general, when a couple of ex-Microsoft execs decide to spend some of their huge piles of money on purchasing the PBA (Professional Bowlers Association), and then put a hard-ass dude who used to work for Nike (Steve Miller) in charge of revitalizing the dying sport.
The movie opens up with a short history of bowling. It was interesting to learn that bowling was once a highly respected pastime, and one of the most-watched sports on TV. But as time has gone on, bowling has become a relic and a joke. Steve Miller plans to change that. His major focus, as he freely admits, is not on pleasing the bowlers, but on selling bowling to the consumer by generating drama, and by showcasing players with big personalities. He's found his dream bowler in bad boy Pete Weber, son of legendary bowler Dick Weber. Pete has a big mouth and gets very emotional on the court. He likes to curse and shout and posture and strut. He even has a little move called the "crotch chop" that he performs at every possible opportunity. On the other end of the spectrum is the straight man, and Weber's nemesis, Walter Ray Williams Jr. In fact, most of the bowlers we get to see seem to conform to one stereotype or another; there's also faded star and perpetual screw-up Wayne Webb, and nice young family man Chris Barnes. There's a surprising amount of drama and humor involved in watching these men face off against each other. They seem to be bowling not only with their own future careers in the balance, but with the future of the sport itself in the balance. And in Webb's case, it almost seems to be a life or death thing - his very last shot at the big time. So at times t's actually a sad and moving film, at other times it's suspenseful and thrilling, and at still other times it's just really funny. Pete Weber and Steve Miller are huge, fascinating personalities, and even straight man Walter Ray Williams Jr. is pretty odd at times - his speech at the end, where he rambles on about money and his sponsors before remember to thank his family, is really pretty embarrassing. You kind of want to take the mike away from him.
The point is, even though it might seem to be just a movie about bowling, A League of Ordinary Gentlemen turns out to be a damn fine documentary about some very interesting people, and about what it means to be a part of the entertainment industry. (And I enjoyed it despite the annoying fact that when I ripped the DVD and copied it to my iPod, something went wrong and the video ended up out of synch with the audio, so that I always heard what was happening long before I saw it.) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
