The Legend of Bagger Vance (2001, VHS)

This is the first golf fairy tale movie I have seen, I wouldn't be surprised if it's the virgin of the genre. Maybe there s a reason no one made a golf epic before, do you think?

Let's give this one the ol' GOOD/BAD treatment, shall we?

All righty, we'll begin with the short section first, THE GOOD:
Beautiful scenery! Robert Redford is a master at making films with visual appeal, sweeping panoramic landscapes complete with the perfect radiance of sunlight (or moonlight, as the case may be) and dreamy clouds, the occasional flock of geese flying past, or blue heron wading through the reeds. Idyllic, majestic, romantic, as if that can transform the ordinary into something more. Kinda sliding out of the good into the overdone category. We can just use that to segue to the bad, as it seems we have covered the good - oh wait! The costumes and hairdos were authentic for the period, and Charlize really got to wear some great outfits. I wanted to see more of her (as Adele Invergordon) in that red hat when she stopped to talk to Matt Damon (as Rannulph Junuh) on the street, but alas the hat was obscured most of the time in the angle of our perspective.

Now, we are ready for THE BAD:

This was probably a fairly good book - I could almost hear the book being read aloud in my head, "And then little Hardy Greaves flipped through his scrapbook, memorizing all the details of the life of his hero". The movie played along in fairy tale fashion like a Dick and Jane primer. Very simplistically manipulative, Caro syrup sweet and sticky.

The story is muddy: Rannulph (though he was always Matt Damon to me, never once did I think of him as a different persona) disappeared for 10 years, abandoning his gorgeous, rich sweetheart. However, he is easily found when there comes a need for a local golfer (you just never know when you might need a golfer, you know?).

There is a strange group of local, um, I guess I'll just say men - not sure if they were bankers or politicians or some combination of both. I referred to them as "The Seven Dwarfs" when discussing the film afterwards. They burst into Adele's bedroom! They follow little Hardy Greaves (J. Michael Moncrief) as he goes to find Rannulph to recruit him into his important golfing mission.

Will Smith is the legendary caddy. He is the Touched by an Angel character that we are left wondering if he actually exists or was just some divine apparition who arrived to deliver Rannulph from his demons and preach about overcoming adversity. He also had Svengali-like powers to help Rannulph Just be the ball, be the ball, be the ball ala Ty Webb (Chevy Chase in Caddy Shack). We actually get to be the ball for some scenes, hypnotically traveling through the air above the fairway. Too much wooo-wooo for my taste.

The relationship between Rannulph and Adele is confused. He abandoned her for 10 years (or is it twelve, as she later says?) but they are obviously still in love, yet they ping pong back and forth with affection/hostility. Neither one of them looks old enough to have waited 10 years for anything to happen.

I felt insulted by the obviousness; Jack Lemmon as the aged Hardy Greaves hits his golf ball while playing alone and says aloud Oh no, into the woods again! as if we can t see where the ball went. I far prefer to be shown rather than told, but that doesn t seem to be Mr. Redford s style. My little sister almost wrecked her car when she spotted Mr. Redford putting money into a parking meter on a street in Los Angeles as she drove by he is still worth acting stupid over, but I don t think directing is his forte!

This movie has that Dreamworks sheen that will probably be popular with audiences that don t get out to many movies. Happily, I do.