A just-clever-enough conceit and generally cheerful performances are almost enough to put over “The Gutter,” a coarse and comically crude bowling farce featuring an Oscar winner and a Black bowler who just might take over “the whitest sport” while no one is watching.

Shameik Moore brings Kevin-Hart-selling-something-on-TV energy as Walt, a self-absorbed and perpetually unemployed dope who finds himself and his calling when he takes the job spraying roach killer into the shoes at the tumbledown alley known as AlleyCatz Lanes.

And no less than Susan Sarandon, well-preserved and everybody’s idea of the perfect villain but no one’s idea of a convincing bowler, is summoned to play Linda Curson, a legend of the lanes who comes out of retirement to make sure this pipsqueak savant doesn’t break her long-standing records.

D’Arcy Carden of TV’s “The Good Place,” “Barry” and “A League of Their Own” plays the ex-pro/alcoholic washout who takes an interest in “training” our champion-to-be.

And sibling filmmakers Isaiah and Yassir Lester talked Jackée Harry into playing the owner of the aged alley, Kim Fields to play Walt’s broke momma and Paul Reiser to be the venerable TV face and voice of SLOB, the Super League of Bowling for their comedy.

The idea was to vamp on “Kingpin,” throw a lot of talented folks telling PG-to-R-rated jokes against the wall and see what sticks. Not enough does, but there are scattered laughs, even if the Lesters lost their nerve about how far “out there” to take this thing.

Walt is dopey enough to manically overshare his many firings in his job interview with Mozell (Henry), misguided enough to figure he can sex his way into the gig.

“This is how you get a job…in the movies that I watch!”

But she’s desperate — for an employee, not sex. And he’s down for any gig where he can go shirtless.

It’s when he first picks up a ball that his “bowling savant” skills become obvious. Rolled behind his back, over his shoulder or all the way from the concession stand, Walt scores strikes.

That sobers up Skunk (Carden) just long enough to take an interest. She sees the novelty of it all.

“There hasn’t been a Black pro (bowler) since…”

And since Mozell’s about to lose AlleyCatz, “an institution in the Black community,” to code violations, everybody could use the prize money.

Walt, shirted or shirtless and wearing “Porn Hub” stickers in the hope of landing sponsors, charges into the pro bowling circuit — Indianapolis to Tulsa to Houston to Atlanta — with Skunk as his cheerleader/”coach.”

He has a hard time selling the world on his “stage name” for the tour — “Nygga Thyme.” Maybe one of his catch phrases will catch on.

“It’s Walt LIQUOR time!”

But we know he’s never going to win over Linda Curson, or Angelo (Reiser), the over-the-hill insult-comic TV announcer, who refers to him as “the Michael B. Jordan of bowling.”

The whole funny people-given-“funny” characters and lines strategy here doesn’t really land, although a few of the jokes do.

“I wanna wrestle with that dude from ‘Dune,’ Timothee Chalamet. Just to see…what happens.”

Moore and Carden’s chemistry is tentative, and the script teeters between going gonzo and raunchy and timidly reaching for PG-13. Pretty much everybody here has been brassier in other roles and other films.

You can pull for Walt/Moore, who starred in “Dope” and who gives voice to the animated “Spiderverse” movies. You can hope the Lesters get their shot at becoming “The New Farrelly Brothers.”

But the characters are never more than caricatures, the set-up is too conventional and the payoff doesn’t pay off at all. As for the jokes? Too many are awaiting that next rewrite or polish. But not this one.

“And now, just like racism in America, this is over.”

Rating: unrated, sexual humor, profanity and smoking

Cast: Shameik Moore, D’Arcy Carden, Jackée Harry, Kim Fields, Paul Reiser and Susan Sarandon

Credits: Directed by Isaiah Lester and Yassir Lester, scripted by Yassir Lester. A Magnolia release.

Running time: 1:32