Matt Damon thought he was under attack from a lunatic stalker when an on-set explosion brought his new film to a standstill. He was practicing hitting golf balls for his role as a golfing phenomenon in The Legend Of Bagger Vance when he laid into a practical joke ball - shattering it into a hundred pieces and sending a cloud of smoke into the air. In the background, his young co-star J. Michael Moncrief collapsed giggling to his knees. Damon says, "My immediate reaction was to throw myself to the ground. I thought somebody, possibly a loopy fan, has thrown a grenade. "It was genuinely scary. The last thing I expected to happen. Then I saw JM and realised I had been the victim of a practical joke!"...
- 2/13/2001
- WENN
Like its title character played with grinning wisdom by Will Smith, "The Legend of Bagger Vance" is a movie about something mysterious and universally human, but don't expect it to come right out with its inner truths.
Director-producer Robert Redford's latest endeavor in the nobler realms of mainstream filmmaking is structured mostly around a Savannah, Ga., golf tournament, but the real contest for audiences is weathering the tonal shifts and forgiving the screenplay's shallow depths and weak undercurrents.
Of course, devotees of golf, fans of leads Matt Damon and Charlize Theron and adult moviegoers hankering for a little romance might come away satisfied, but the DreamWorks/Fox co-presentation, distributed by DreamWorks, will not lead any dramatic comebacks at the boxoffice or dazzle many critics or be resurrected significantly come awards season. Often engagingly humorous, beautifully costumed and never dull to look at, "Bagger Vance" has too few characters with which one develops a satisfying bond, beginning with Damon's long-suffering World War I veteran.
With an uncredited Jack Lemmon appearing in the prologue and epilogue and providing frequent narration, "Bagger Vance" is based on Steven Pressfield's novel, with the screenplay credited to Jeremy Leven ("Don Juan DeMarco"). Set in the present, Lemmon's scenes introduce Hardy Greaves as an old diehard on the course, suffering one of his many heart attacks. As he blacks out, we are transported to the Savannah of Greaves' youth, where the golf-loving lad -- played wonderfully by newcomer J. Michael Moncrief -- idolizes local champion Rannulph Junuh (Damon), who has a charmed life until he endures the horrors of trench warfare.
In summary fashion, Redford recounts Junuh's triumphs as a young phenom known to uncork a record drive from time to time and his well-publicized marriage with fetching society belle Adele Invergordon (Theron). After short, serviceable-at-best war sequences, Junuh, we're told, disappeared for 10 years. As the Depression clamps down, Adele's wealthy father is left with a brand new golf resort and no customers. In mere seconds, he has taken his own life and she has taken over the business, shooing away the human vultures with a vow to stage a high-profile golf tournament.
Real-life golf legends Walter Hagen (Bruce McGill) and Bobby Jones (Joel Gretsch) are signed up, but the locals want a Savannah boy to make it a threesome. Up jumps Greaves, who saw Junuh slink back into town recently like some hobo, and the boy finds his old hero playing cards and drinking to kill the brain cells that contain bad memories. Spurred nonetheless by echoes of his former glory but claiming that he has "lost his swing," Junuh takes a few hacks one night and has a fateful rendezvous with the Goddess Athena -- or is that trickster Smith coming out of the night?
Smith's Vance is an itinerant sage of the fairways who asks for only $5 to be Junuh's caddie, and he earns his fee several times over when, through a murky process of male bonding and stealth coaching, the troubled former state champ finds his "one true, authentic swing." Spread over two days and four rounds, the contest among Junuh, Hagen and Jones takes a few dramatic turns as Junuh starts strong but reaches the halfway point seemingly too far back to win.
There are no major surprises in store for those wise in the ways of sports flicks. What stands out to the film's diminishment are the idealizing of Smith's wispy character -- down to his conveniently disappearing into the landscape -- and the shortchanging romance between Damon and Theron. On the plus side are McGill and striking newcomer Gretsch in what could have been forgettable roles.
In other regards, particularly Michael Ballhaus' cinematography, Stuart Craig's production design and Judianna Makovsky's costumes, "Bagger Vance" is not altogether a cheating, fleetingly coy experience.
THE LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE
DreamWorks Distribution
DreamWorks Pictures and
20th Century Fox present
a Wildwood/Allied production
Director: Robert Redford
Screenwriter: Jeremy Leven
Producers: Robert Redford,
Michael Nozik, Jake Eberts
Based on the novel by: Steven Pressfield
Executive producer: Karen Tenkhoff
Director of photography: Michael Ballhaus
Production designer: Stuart Craig
Editor: Hank Corwin
Costume designer: Judianna Makovsky
Music: Rachel Portman
Casting: Debra Zane
Color/stereo
Cast:
Bagger Vance: Will Smith
Rannulph Junuh: Matt Damon
Adele Invergordon: Charlize Theron
Walter Hagen: Bruce McGill
Bobby Jones: Joel Gretsch
Hardy Greaves: J. Michael Moncrief
Running time - 127 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Director-producer Robert Redford's latest endeavor in the nobler realms of mainstream filmmaking is structured mostly around a Savannah, Ga., golf tournament, but the real contest for audiences is weathering the tonal shifts and forgiving the screenplay's shallow depths and weak undercurrents.
Of course, devotees of golf, fans of leads Matt Damon and Charlize Theron and adult moviegoers hankering for a little romance might come away satisfied, but the DreamWorks/Fox co-presentation, distributed by DreamWorks, will not lead any dramatic comebacks at the boxoffice or dazzle many critics or be resurrected significantly come awards season. Often engagingly humorous, beautifully costumed and never dull to look at, "Bagger Vance" has too few characters with which one develops a satisfying bond, beginning with Damon's long-suffering World War I veteran.
With an uncredited Jack Lemmon appearing in the prologue and epilogue and providing frequent narration, "Bagger Vance" is based on Steven Pressfield's novel, with the screenplay credited to Jeremy Leven ("Don Juan DeMarco"). Set in the present, Lemmon's scenes introduce Hardy Greaves as an old diehard on the course, suffering one of his many heart attacks. As he blacks out, we are transported to the Savannah of Greaves' youth, where the golf-loving lad -- played wonderfully by newcomer J. Michael Moncrief -- idolizes local champion Rannulph Junuh (Damon), who has a charmed life until he endures the horrors of trench warfare.
In summary fashion, Redford recounts Junuh's triumphs as a young phenom known to uncork a record drive from time to time and his well-publicized marriage with fetching society belle Adele Invergordon (Theron). After short, serviceable-at-best war sequences, Junuh, we're told, disappeared for 10 years. As the Depression clamps down, Adele's wealthy father is left with a brand new golf resort and no customers. In mere seconds, he has taken his own life and she has taken over the business, shooing away the human vultures with a vow to stage a high-profile golf tournament.
Real-life golf legends Walter Hagen (Bruce McGill) and Bobby Jones (Joel Gretsch) are signed up, but the locals want a Savannah boy to make it a threesome. Up jumps Greaves, who saw Junuh slink back into town recently like some hobo, and the boy finds his old hero playing cards and drinking to kill the brain cells that contain bad memories. Spurred nonetheless by echoes of his former glory but claiming that he has "lost his swing," Junuh takes a few hacks one night and has a fateful rendezvous with the Goddess Athena -- or is that trickster Smith coming out of the night?
Smith's Vance is an itinerant sage of the fairways who asks for only $5 to be Junuh's caddie, and he earns his fee several times over when, through a murky process of male bonding and stealth coaching, the troubled former state champ finds his "one true, authentic swing." Spread over two days and four rounds, the contest among Junuh, Hagen and Jones takes a few dramatic turns as Junuh starts strong but reaches the halfway point seemingly too far back to win.
There are no major surprises in store for those wise in the ways of sports flicks. What stands out to the film's diminishment are the idealizing of Smith's wispy character -- down to his conveniently disappearing into the landscape -- and the shortchanging romance between Damon and Theron. On the plus side are McGill and striking newcomer Gretsch in what could have been forgettable roles.
In other regards, particularly Michael Ballhaus' cinematography, Stuart Craig's production design and Judianna Makovsky's costumes, "Bagger Vance" is not altogether a cheating, fleetingly coy experience.
THE LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE
DreamWorks Distribution
DreamWorks Pictures and
20th Century Fox present
a Wildwood/Allied production
Director: Robert Redford
Screenwriter: Jeremy Leven
Producers: Robert Redford,
Michael Nozik, Jake Eberts
Based on the novel by: Steven Pressfield
Executive producer: Karen Tenkhoff
Director of photography: Michael Ballhaus
Production designer: Stuart Craig
Editor: Hank Corwin
Costume designer: Judianna Makovsky
Music: Rachel Portman
Casting: Debra Zane
Color/stereo
Cast:
Bagger Vance: Will Smith
Rannulph Junuh: Matt Damon
Adele Invergordon: Charlize Theron
Walter Hagen: Bruce McGill
Bobby Jones: Joel Gretsch
Hardy Greaves: J. Michael Moncrief
Running time - 127 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
- 11/1/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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