Born to Bowl

An affectionately made five-part series that takes neither the sport nor itself too seriously. One of the more amusing things about it is Mr. Schreiber, who seems intent on echoing the kind of voiceover heard in the educational films of yesteryear, with a deliberately mellow, vaguely pontifical tone, albeit with an ironic twist.

With its several unrelated contests, in no particular order of importance, “Born to Bowl” can be a little hard to keep track of, as the bowlers win and lose, but it’s interesting all the way through, and the directors do a good job of communicating the drama of the game and its emotional consequences. .... Its only fault, really, is the winking, ironic tone the narration (spoken by Liev Schreiber) sometimes takes, as if the sport isn’t quite worth the trouble the film is going through.