Costner Shoots a Birdie!
Kevin Costner should stick to playing likeable average guys in films like 'Tin Cup'! Ron Shelton, who had worked with the actor earlier in one of the best baseball films ever made ('Bull Durham'), takes on the trials and tribulations of a journeyman professional golfer in this outing, and while it lacks the charm and comraderie of the earlier film, it manages to make the solitary nature of golf more human and acceptable to all the non-golfers out here.
It is not the best golf film ever made (that honor goes to the Randy Quaid comedy, 'Dead Solid Perfect'), and it does have flaws (the leisurely pacing, some overlong scenes), but there is such a warm, fuzzy feeling to the entire film that you end up rooting for Costner, both on the golf course, and in his pursuit of Rene Russo (who is wonderful!)
Cheech Marin provides welcome comedy relief, and Don Johnson's slick smarminess is a perfect counterpoint to Costner's gonzo approach to golf and life.
Costner's laid-back...
One of the funniest movies ever made.
I'm so glad I bought this DVD; the more I watch it the funnier
it gets. Charming performances, witty dialogue, and a music score
to die for. (Roger Ebert's review available from imdb catches this
work just right.) Costner has never been more charming and disarming. Kevin and Rene have some sweet love scenes, nothing
like the searing stuff she did with Brosnan in Thomas Crown!
I never in my life could "get" golf, and now I am
watching the tournaments on TV. The lore of this film has passed
into the general culture, at least among golf people, and you will
laugh all the way through this delightfully quirky movie.
If only Costner stuck to sports movies
Kevin Costner is one of the most athletic actors in film history. Not many others could have made Crash Davis believable in Bull Durham. In this movie, Costner shows his athletic ability again, playing a round of golf with a variety of gardening tools and swtich-hitting his drives.
Costner also shows another side of his talent - his title role is a not-too-bright loser. This is a big departure from his epic heros in Waterworld and The Postman. As you might suspect, he's a better loser than he is a hero.
One other thing about the golf in this movie - while some of it is pretty out there (does ESPN really televise pro-am's from podunk towns in West Texas?), there's nothing really unstable. No PA guys doing play-by-play or generic white uniforms or anything like that. The scene on the driving range before the US Open is a classic!
The rest of the cast is solid, and Cheech Marin nearly steals the movie (as he often does). The plot does hold one big surprise (the end isn't...
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