The book had a longer title, but it was essentially 'seven days in Utopia.' Clever in that the Texas town really exists and is called Utopia. Plus the theme is our human attempts to achieve our personal 'utopia' where everything is right. My golfing friend Jay loaned me the book, which I enjoyed, and now similarly enjoyed this movie.
You don't have to be a golfer, but I believe golfers will enjoy the movie more than others. Plus it has a prominent "faith" element, and some will be turned off by that aspect. But it is what it is, and I think it is a good movie.
Lucas Black is young pro golfer Luke Chisholm who has a giant melt-down on the final hole when all he has to do is make a par to win. Video of it is all over the airwaves. So ready to give up golf, that his dad had pushed on him so forcefully, Luke winds up in Utopia, Texas, population 375 now that a lady just had twins.
Robert Duvall is Johnny Crawford who we gradually find out was a pro golfer many years ago, in the Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson era, but retreated to small town life some years ago, he lost both his career and his wife because of his drinking. Luke in a moment of inattention crashes through one of Johnny's fences to avoid hitting a bull, and soon Luke finds himself stuck in Utopia.
Not all is bleak, as he also meets the pretty girl working at the local café, and aspiring to be a professional horse whisperer. But Johnny makes him a more important promise, spend 7 days with him in Utopia and he will find his golf game.
The basic premise is not unlike the 'Karate Kid' approach, the old master gets the student involved in a number of things seemingly unrelated to golf. Bass fishing, throwing washers, oil painting. But it is all part of the plan to get young Luke to control his emotions and control his destiny. 'S-F-T' ... see it, feel it, trust it.
Black and Duvall are great together. And in this fictional story golfer K.J. Choi plays T.K. Oh, the number one golfer. This is not a superb movie as superb movies go, but it is very pleasant and very watchable, and might even teach some audience members a new outlook on life and what is really important.
I saw it in the theater, my first visit to a movie house in 12 years!
SPOILER: Luke gets into the Texas Open the next week, plays calmly and well, and a great approach to the last hole nets him an eagle 2 to tie with T.K. Oh. In the playoff T.K. Oh misses his birdie putt on the first playoff hole, all Luke has to do is sink an 8-ft birdie putt to win. With Johnny he had learned a new face-on putting style and Johnny had told him, "You will know when to use it." He pulls that putter out of his bag and uses it for the birdie putt, it is rolling to the hole, as the camera pans up to the sky. We never know if he made the putt or not, because ultimately that isn't important.
