Stay in your lane: Movies and TV shows that feature memorable bowling scenes

If you’ve ever known somebody who suddenly expressed an interest in bowling and White Russians, they probably recently saw “The Big Lebowski” and really enjoyed it. The Coen Brothers' beloved cult comedy does certainly have a strong aesthetic to it. While some of the fandom is a bit intense, the movie is very good, and it is shot beautifully. That includes many of the bowling scenes, and there are plenty, as The Dude, Walter, and Donny all love bowling as much as they hate nihilists.

Leave it to the Farrelly brothers to make a raunchy comedy about bowling. It’s also a bit of a road trip comedy, because an entire film about bowling might be a lot. Woody Harrelson plays Roy Munson, a one-time talented bowler who lost his hand and fell into heavy drinking and debauched living. Then, he meets an Amish guy who is a bowling savant, and he sees money in it for him. Yes, that’s a ridiculous plot. We did mention it was a Farrelly Brothers movie.

Homer Simpson loves to bowl, and bowling has prominently figured into a few episodes. For example, the great episode where Homer and his friends start their bowling team the Pin Pals, only to have Mr. Burns nearly ruin things for them. Homer isn’t the only one with bowling-related stories, though. In the early episode “Life on the Fast Lane,” Marge takes up bowling to spite Homer and considers having an affair with her smooth-talking French instructor, Jacques.

Fred and Barney are blue-collar guys. They are not unlike Homer Simpsons of the Stone Age, other than the fact they are such a blatant rip-off of Ralph and Ed from “The Honeymooners.” As blue-collar sitcom characters, of course Fred and Barney go bowling often, although Fred bowls barefoot and with more tip-toeing than most bowlers.

It’s understandable if you have never heard of “Dreamer.” It wasn’t a hit, and the best review of it we have seen calls it a, “pleasant, inconsequential sports melodrama.” Not high praise! It is, however, a true-blue movie about a bowler. Tim Matheson plays a small-town bowler who dreams of being a professional. Alongside his curmudgeonly manager and his supportive girlfriend, he goes for his dreams. Yeah, it’s not surprising the movie was called predictable by more than one reviewer.

“Ed” is the rare hour-long dramedy that isn’t a procedural in nature, but the NBC show managed to mostly land at the right “quirk” level…mostly. Tom Cavanagh plays Ed who, yes, is a hotshot New York lawyer who loses his job and moves back to his hometown. Upon returning, he buys a local bowling alley and also hangs up his shingle as a lawyer. That means “Ed” could do both legal stories and have wacky bowling alley stories as well.

What could “Knuckles,” the show about the angry red echidna from “Sonic the Hedgehog,” have to do with bowling? Well, the six-episode limited series needed something to do for a plot. The show is essentially a buddy comedy with Knuckles hanging out with, and mentoring, Wade Whipple, the dumb cop played by Adam Pally in the movies. The payoff? A bowling tournament in Reno where Wade intends to best his father, famed bowler “Pistol” Pete Whipple, played by Cary Elwes.

Well, not every network show that features bowling can be a hit. “How We Roll” is explicitly a bowling sitcom. Pete Holmes stars as an auto worker who gets laid off and, yes, decides to follow his dream of being a professional bowler. The plot may sound trite, but it was based on a true story. Of course, that didn’t buy “How We Roll” more than 11 episodes before it was canceled.

There’s an actual documentary about professional bowling called “A League of Ordinary Gentlemen,” but a documentary about bowling isn’t really a fit for this list. Fortunately, “Documentary Now!” exists. One of the documentaries it has spoofed is “A League of Ordinary Gentlemen.” Its fake doc is called “Any Given Saturday Afternoon,” and the cast includes Michael C. Hall and Bobby Moynihan.

“Critters” definitely feels like it qualifies as one of the “Gremlins” rip-offs, but “Gremlins” didn’t invent the idea of impish little creatures, so it is what it is. Also, “Critters” was released close enough to “Gremlins” it could be mostly parallel thinking anyway. Regardless, at least “Critters” has some energy behind it, and also a bowling alley sequence of note. There are shape-shifting alien bounty hunters looking for the Critters (okay so they are called Krites but to us they are Critters) and the search leads one to a bowling alley. There, the bounty hunter throws a breezy strike. In fact, it’s so easy for him that a few of the pins disintegrate.

Alien-related sight gags have been part of the schtick for “Men in Black” from the beginning. While the second film in the series is kind of a shrug, the third one is good, owing largely to a time-travel conceit that allows Josh Brolin to play a young K. Of course, there’s also the sight gags. J, Will Smith’s character, decides the best way to interrogate one alien who they find in a bowling alley is to, well, bowl his head. Don’t worry, the alien is fine. Also, he’s a bad guy.

John Hughes’ “Uncle Buck” gave John Candy one of his defining roles as a gruff, irresponsible guy who has to be at least responsible enough to watch his brother’s three kids. While Uncle Buck’s giant pancake is what may stick in your mind the most, he also takes the kids bowling and does, you know, Uncle Buck things in the process.

“Pleasantville” is not a subtle movie. It’s about two siblings who are magically sucked into the world of an old, black-and-white sitcom where everything seems perfect, but is that really perfection? Suddenly, the actions of, say, Reese Witherspoon’s rebellious teenager brings literal color to the town of Pleasantville. While some of the thudding moments are worth critique, there are some clever touches in the movie as well. When the town’s stodgy mayor Big Bob and his fellow traditionalists need to hole up somewhere to meet, they do it at a bowling alley, which does feel like the kind of place these staid sitcom characters would go.

If you were watching Disney Channel in the year 2000, you may have caught the Disney Channel original movie “Alley Cats Strike.” A lot of the plot seems poorly thought out, but it revolves around a bowling tournament and also kids learning lessons and stuff. Perhaps the most notable thing about it is not the two male leads, who have gone on to be working actors in adulthood, but one of the supporting roles, Elisa. She was played by future sitcom star Kaley Cuoco.

Daniel Plainview does have a bowling lane in his mansion! Sure, maybe it is just a place for him to drink in solitude, which is the case for seemingly every room in his house. We do see him throw a bowling ball as well, though he is just trying to hit Eli Sunday, the charlatan preacher he has hated for years. Oh, and then Daniel beats Eli to death with a bowling pin. While bowling plays just a small role in “There Will Be Blood,” this may be the most-famous scene involving bowling in all of film.