'LEAGUE' HAS THE RIGHT SPIN.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Critic

'WHAT IS the message of bowling?'' It might not be a question you've ever asked yourself, but then you're not Steve Miller, the go-getter marketing guy from Nike who has been charged with remaking the sport's image to bring it in line with today's flashy, quick-cut entertainment culture.

We meet Miller in the marvelously entertaining documentary ``A League of Ordinary Gentleman,'' which looks at bowling - and, by extension, America's pursuit of leisure - past, present and future. Spending a pivotal year on the road with the Professional Bowlers Association, filmmakers Chris and Alex Browne and Bill Bryan deliver a movie full of great characters, tense drama and a striking look at the ever-present battle of style vs. substance.

``League'' opens with a brief roundup of the past, linking bowling's ascension to the advent of television and the onset of lean times with the expansion of cable. Robert Putnam, author of ``Bowling Alone,'' posits that bowling's decline reflects an increasing disconnectedness in American life.

Facing bankruptcy, the PBA was sold to three ex-Microsoft geeks, who hire Miller to add the kind of marketing sizzle that attracts 18- to 35-year-old males. At a motivational meeting before the 2003 season (the year the movie was filmed), he tells the pro bowlers to ``be as much of yourself as you can,'' but what he really wants them to do is just the opposite. Miller is looking for entertainers on the level of Hulk Hogan. If they can roll some strikes, so much the better.

Miller selects Pete Weber, son of legendary bowler Dick Weber, as the poster boy for the new PBA. The wiry Weber is the sport's designated bad boy, celebrating strikes with a move he calls the ``crotch chop'' and ranting and raving when the pins don't fall his way.

Weber's antithesis and nemesis is Walter Ray Williams Jr. The bearded, unassuming Williams has a degree in physics and six world horseshoe-pitching titles to go along with his 36 PBA wins. It's clear how inconvenient it is for the new-look PBA that its best bowler is a mild- mannered class act instead of a genital-grabbing showboat.

``League'' follows other bowlers as well, such as Wayne Webb, a one-time star who frittered away his earnings on gambling and booze. Trying to make a comeback, Webb complains that the league office doesn't care about the people who gave their life to the sport.

Which is true, of course, just like the people who run Wal-Mart don't care about the folks who own all those mom-and-pop stores they're driving out of business. America continues to change, and ``A League of Ordinary Gentlemen'' captures those shifts with a clear-eyed humor and understanding that's a joy to behold.

Glenn Whipp, [phone]

glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com

A LEAGUE OF ORDINARY GENTLEMEN - Three stars

(Not rated: language)

Director: Chris Browne.

Running time: 1 hr. 35 min.

Playing: Regent Showcase in Los Angeles.

In a nutshell: Can bowling be made cool? Should it? The answers to these questions might surprise in this marvelously entertaining documentary about the changing face of the sport and Americans' pursuit of leisure.