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| 5/2/2004 |
| Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius- Just shoot me in the face |
A Movie Review
by Wes Bennett
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It was a big weekend for film releases, with “Mean Girls”, “Envy” “Godsend” and “Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius.” I had a difficult decision to make. I never thought that “Envy” looked very good despite the presence of Jack Black and Ben Stiller. I knew very little about “Godsend” with Bob De Niro, but it seemed like it was going to essentially rip-off of “Pet Cemetery. “Mean Girls” appeared like I would have enjoyed it more if I were ten years younger and of the opposite sex.
My big mistake was trusting Roger Ebert, where on his website he gave “Bobby Jones: A stroke of Genius” three stars. After the rousing “Miracle,” I thought it would be nice to see another sports film and I was curious about the smaller details of legendary golfer Bobby Jones’ life. Also, not that I enjoyed “The Passion of the Christ” as much as everyone else, but it’s star Jim Caviezel was on the rise.
But greeted me at the theater was a very, very painful two hours. I would not under any circumstances recommend this film. Sometimes you make a bad decision, and it was clear that I had made a disastrous one. All I can do at this point is try and prevent others from making the same one.
You would think that the life of Bobby Jones would be able to produce some dramatic fodder. It turns out that the man was one of the greatest sports figures of the century and maybe of all time. In short, he was the only golfer to win all four majors in one year (a feat that even Tiger Woods couldn’t achieve). He choose to maintain his amateur status, instead making his living as a Lawyer. He stop competing at age 28 and went on to build the legendary Masters course in Augusta.
We know from films like “Tin Cup” and “Happy Gilmore” that golf can be extremely compelling and dramatic game featuring colorful characters. But “Bobby Jones” completely lacks almost any kind of drama or interesting people. It has the feel of a second-rate, TNT film. To be honest, I have no idea how it even achieved a national theatrical release.
In the spirit of “Seabiscuit,” the film sets out to re-create a sports legend of the past mid-century with a great deal of integrity and 1950-ish innocence. Everything is far too clean, and everyone is far too nice. This is not how real life is. Make no mistake, I am huge fans of films like “Hoosiers” and “Rocky.” Even though both of these films had no profanity, sex and were family-friendly, they didn’t come off nearly this ridiculous or alienating.
“Stroke of Genius” goes out of its way to make the point, “there are finer things then winning championships” and keeps stressing the fact that Jones never turned pro in order to maintain the purity of his amateur standing. This made no sense at all to me. Do I think less of Jordan, Bird or Elway because they accepted money? No of course not. Even pro-football player/fallen soldier, Pat Tillman took money. In another instance Jones loses a tournament by a stroke after he lets officials know that may have moved his ball. Neither the officials nor anyone in the audience, saw it. His competitors urge him to forget about it, but he won’t. Rather than impressing us with his honesty, it comes across as irrational and borderline insane. The film makes Jones seem so perfect that we cannot identify with him.
Director Rowdy Herrington, gives us less movie than a fawning infomercial. Even the actual golfing tournaments are dull. In “Bobby Jones” golf scenes consist of nothing more than endless montages of Jones making shot after great shot and gasping applause.
"Bobby Jones" was financed by “The Bobby Jones Film Company,” and authorized by the Jones trustees. Maybe that’s the reason the film was made. The financiers clearly just wanted to make a film about Jones, having little knowledge of the industry. I think that Jones deserved a better film. One never considers that the movie made about their life is going to completely suck.
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| "We use words like honor, code, loyalty. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom I provide, then question the manner in which I provide it." |
- Jack Nicholson
A Few Good Men
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Distributed Beers
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| 5 |
Sierra Nevada Bigfoot |
| 4 |
Guinness Draught |
| 3 |
Newcastle Brown Ale |
| 2 |
Bass Pale Ale |
| 1 |
Samuel Adams Boston Lager |
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