Seven Days in Utopia

source: Seven Days in Utopia

If you're looking for a movie that does its book justice, keep on lookin. I won't bore you with the details, as the movie's not all that detailed yet inexcusably boring, so I'll point out rather glaring omissions, questionable additions, and unnecessary changes. 1- "Love interest". We're talking' Ben-JLo-Gigli chemistry here. It was completely unneeded, totally irrelevant to the story, and the scenes felt incredibly awkward. 2. The "Cowboys". Again, an unnecessary change in the age/demeanor/scenes with the cowboys. It, again, felt forced. 3. The ENTIRE correlation with the cemetery, the golf course, the lot...they left out hugely relevant sections of the book here, and as a result made the scene that was supposed to be touching feel...you guessed it. Forced. 4. The climactic, poignant end was removed. Not just changed, 90% of the point of it was just NOT THERE. It really was painful to watch. The movie entirely missed the point, a la Michael Bay with Pearl Harbor.

this film obviously was written by a screenplay writer who really knows the golf, one of the sports heavily commercialized by necessary must-have sponsorship. the screenplay writer had subtly purify the commercial odor and turned it into a philosophy of life. what a great casting job! every role was nicely picked for the right actor to play it. r.d. simply did another great job in this movie. he delivered those great words so naturally like originating from his heart. the young actor who played that conflicting young golfer was pretty awesome too. that young actress was also such a nice cast, pure, slender, kind and gentle, a typical American country girl in our dream. this is a great film, a film about 99.99% without any commercial purpose but was ruined in the last 0.01% when the movie ended with a stupid arrangement by asking viewers an inevitable question: 'did he make the putt?" and ask you to visit a website URL: www.didhemaketheputt.com. when you typed and clicked the enter, it brought you to a 100% commercial site, selling lot of bi-products of this movie. it not only ruined my good impression cast by this movie, it actually made me sneer uncontrollably. well, after all, golf movies are still carrying lot of commercial-wise purposes.

This movie was not a movie I had heard of before and found it accidentally. I am glad I did find it however. It is a feel good story of hope & finding what is important in life. Some of these reviews I have read are overly harsh because of nitpicky things & the discussion of God although some aren't brave enough to cite those reasons. Some are & kudos to them. But do know that you will see the journey of a young golfer as he struggles through his early life when he unexpectedly meets a kindred spirit in Robert Duvall's character. It isn't fancy but it is simple & straightforward in its appeal. If you like feel good stories this is a good one. It is especially refreshing contrasted with all the filthy language, violence & sex laden films out there that families cannot watch on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

I am an avid and pretty good golfer. Have played it for about 55 years now. Although the opening scenes in which Luke self-destructs on the 18th hole of the final round of a very important golf tournament for him -- when he foolishly listens to bad advice from his very bossy, caddying father -- was very contrived, at least something like that conceivably could happen. Later Luke drives through the countryside of the Texas hill country and decides to take the turn to a community called Utopia. Then there is another very unrealistic scene. Luke is driving and stares at a guy (turns out to be Duvall/Johnny Crawford) in a field placing flagsticks in what does not look like (but is) a golf course. Doesn't look at the road ahead of him for about 4 seconds, then finally returns his gaze and discovers an enormous steer standing in the road directly ahead of him. Instead of abruptly down-shifting and braking, he turns off the road and slams his car into and through a sturdy wooden fence. Others here describe what happens in Utopia, quite a bit of which I liked. But at the end of the movie, after he gets into the Texas Open (an official PGA event) and has a chance to win it all, they don't even show the final putt!!! STUPID!!!

I usually get my movies from the public library where the pickings can be slim, so when I get the chance to grab a movie starring Robert Duval I don't pass it up. It is hard to believe he has won only one Oscar. Once again, as in The Disciple, among others, Mr. Duval appears among a stellar ensemble who don't appear to be stars at all, just natural actors. The story centers around Lucas Black's character, a young golfer, and the ranch(Utopia)run by Duval he goes to for reflection/meditation after a devastating loss. While there he meets the locals and receives life lessons from ex-golfer Duval. Prior to picking up the film I didn't pay attention to it's G rating; it was a Duval film so I didn't care. All the actors are superb and their characters true and interesting. The ending is a surprise. Watch it. By the way, Lucas Black is a super actor. I had a hard time placing him at first; his accent kept nagging at me. Then I realized it was the kid from Sling Blade all grown up. He turned out to be a good looking guy with a natural talent and charm. I highly recommend this film although as I said I was not really prepared for the ending.

I thought the movie was really good and would have recommended it outright to anyone but for the ending. I would have gone to see the sequel and been satisfied but the crass attempt to sell another book or make people go see the sequel left me without the desire to complete the journey. I prefer movies that have a satisfying conclusion-whether for good or bad and -this one just left me feeling the dupe of commercialism. The reason someone goes to see a sequel or buy a another book is because of the satisfaction they got from the original. Even a TV series episode must have a conclusion or risk losing an audience. Way to screw an ending, guys.

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.

Pro golfer Luke Chisholm (Black) self- destructs on the last hole of a tournament and takes off in his car. He sees a fork in the road and takes the road to Utopia, a Texas town. After crashing into a fence he is met by Johnny Crawford (Duvall) a rancher and once a pro golfer back in the day. Johnny sees an opportunity to help the young pro and he gives Luke a proposition. This started out like a pretty good golf story, but there were problems with the acting and pacing all around. I wasn't convinced about anything because I had the feeling none of the actors were convinced either. Oh, they went thru the motions, but you could tell there was something missing: belief in what they were saying. Duvall pontificates throughout this and that's okay up to a point, but I had the feeling he knew he had to say the lines, but again, there was something missing: conviction. He said his lines like he was on roller skates. It was like we really didn't get into the story but here come the lines anyway. Something was missing: conviction. Maybe it was too much pontification. The scenes and dialogues felt rushed, and there was too much hesitation when other actors said their lines. Again, no conviction. Perhaps there was too much material to cover to allow a scene to develop so it became comfortable, likable and convincing. The last quarter of the movie became a religious quest and it became a little too much. The director should have checked with Kirk Cameron (child star on Growing Pains TV show) who stars in many of these types of religious themed movies. Actually, I felt blind-sided. For most of the movie, it was about golf training, such as it was, then we get hit with a pretty heavy religious aspect the rest of the way. And, here we find conviction in Johnny's dialogue. Took long enough to find it. Where was it before? Of course, Luke manages to learn the lessons Johnny gave him and when he has a putt on the last hole of the Texas Open to win the tournament, the movie stops in mid-putt and we get hit with: go to http://www.didhemaketheputt.com. OK, I bit and went there and I have no idea if he made the putt, but that wasn't the point of the movie, now was it? And, when I went there, I was hit with more religious material. Had I known about all the religious stuff in the beginning, this probably wouldn't have bothered me. Hey, I have watched some Kirk Cameron movies and they are good. But, here, I felt I was blind-sided. After all this was not anything like The Greatest Game Ever Played or a Bobby Jones story. (5/10) Violence: Not really. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: Soft stuff only and not much of it.

I feel privileged to have witnessed something this bad. It's like a milestone in my life. Having said that, I admit to only watching half of it. I just couldn't take the torture any longer, despite the spectacular scenery of the Texas Hill Country. This was Karate Kid on Valium. Robert Duvall rehashes his old guy Texas burnout with wisdom character from Tender Mercies and mixes it with a little Great Santini. Instead of teaching a kid karate through sweeping and polishing, he teaches an overgrown man-child to play Golf through fishing and painting. If Golf in the Texas countryside isn't obscure enough for you, a failed golfer leaves the PGA Tour and smashes into the ranch fence of a former PGA golfer in the middle of nowhere. What are the odds? Apparently it was a Christian movie. I didn't get that far. This lead "actor," from the Tokyo Fast and Furious film has the personality of a piece of driftwood. Top that off with the deepest Alabama accent you've ever heard or hope to hear. There just happens to be a nice single girl in town who thinks he's attractive. Even though there are only 375 people in the town. Must be his dazzling personality and the fact that he embarrassed himself on national T.V. getting blown off the golf course and exhibiting poor sportsmanship. Hmm. Yummy. The small town transforming a city guy theme is stolen from Doc Hollywood. (Michael J. Fox)The rest as I mentioned is from Karate Kid, only Mr. Miyagi is now a clichéd version of Robert Duvall. By the way, the kid is asked to paint a picture of the golf course and he does it like a pro. Does he have an artistic background? Did he take Fine Arts at Golf College? Oh jeez. What a disaster. Having said that, the scenery again is amazing and the basic idea of a man with a broken spirit chilling out in a small town is always appealing. So cull what you can from this train wreck. I'm sure it has its' redeeming qualities.