The new and improved Tour now has a terrifically well-made and astute film documenting its birthing pains.
League of Ordinary Gentlemen (2005)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 34
Fresh: 31
Rotten:3
Average Rating: 7.3/10
Consensus: Even if bowling isn't your sport, this colorful documentary is still an entertaining watch.
Theatrical Release:May 27, 2005 Limited
Synopsis: Though never a sport of Kings, at one point in time bowling occupied a perfectly respectable place in the pantheon of American sports. It has long been one of the most popular participatory sports... Though never a sport of Kings, at one point in time bowling occupied a perfectly respectable place in the pantheon of American sports. It has long been one of the most popular participatory sports in America. When Eddie Elias convinced the country's top 33 bowlers to kick fifty bucks into a communal pot in a banquet hall in Syracuse, NY, in 1958, the Professional Bowlers Association was born. ABC began televising PBA tournaments in 1962, and as the lead in Wide World of Sports, Chris Schenkel's Saturday afternoon bowling telecast was for many years one of the highest rated sports programs on television. Then something happened: America ceased to embrace the portly, middle-brow image the PBA was selling, and bowling got kicked to the curb. The sport and its players, many of whom grew up idolizing the sepia-toned gods of bowling's golden era, found themselves wallowingin the backwaters of the popular imagination, alongside rodeos and tractor pulls. In 2000, three former Microsoft executives scooped up the entire apparatus of professional bowling -- its players, tournaments, trademarks and trophies, all for about five million dollars and assumption of the league's debt. Their stated goal was to save bowling from the brink of extinction and raise it to new heights, or at least put it on par with the Bass Masters tour, which, at current market values, would represent a tidy return on equity. The heavy lifting for this mission falls onto the broad shoulders of a man named Steve Miller, a former top Nike executive who had played for the Detroit Lions and rescued Kansas State football from the NCAA cellar. The film focuses on Miller and four of his charges, professional bowlers at very different places in their careers, and their sometimes funny, sometimes sad adventures on tour as professional athletes - albeit the Rodney Dangerfields of professional sports. -- © Magnolia Pictures [More]
Starring: Steve Miller
Starring: Steve Miller
Director: Chris Browne
Director: Chris Browne
Producer: Bill Bryan, Alex Browne
Studio: Magnolia Pictures
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Reviews for League of Ordinary Gentlemen
easy to take in, much like spending an afternoon at the lanes with some watery beer
"League" is unexpectedly inspiring as we watch the plucky little league, which only draws a quarter of the advertising revenue of hockey despite having better TV ratings, fight for its survival.
Homely but enjoyable...if you might not want to join this 'League' permanently, you should find it a pleasant crew to spend ninety minutes with.
Without the social questions posed at the beginning of the film, the footage of the competition is not likely to be strong enough on its own to lasso in a new generation of players.
Director Christopher Browne took a lesson from Steve Miller, when it comes to bowling on TV (or in the movies), 'it's all about scoring, pace, and energy'.
It's a workmanlike film, but by the time two of the above bowlers are rolling against each other for the PBA championship, Browne has the audience sweating every spare.
After a few flourishes of Errol Morris-like editing, first-timer Browne settles into a tone resembling the ESPN telecasts so crucial to the PBA's revenue stream, thriving on the intrinsic drama of competition and the league's emerging star system.
Closer to a rah-rah public-relations video than a curtain-yanking investigative piece.
Bowling with Purpose and Meaning, even if they aren't Bowling for Columbine
The film is part nostalgia, part wary tale of wasted youth and part underdog struggle.
Manages to be funny, sad and as informative as you'd want any movie about bowling to be.
It's a curious movie, in the best sense, acknowledging that everybody is obsessed with something, then finding out why this particular group of people is obsessed with this particular pastime.
Gentlemen is distinguished by its extraordinary access to the players and tour operators.
Christopher Browne's documentary acquaints us with these gentlemen by presenting us their passionate quirks that actually don't make them very ordinary at all.
Its 98 minutes are as easy to enjoy as picking up a spare, and we don't mean a tire around the waist.
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