Watched in February 2014
Synopsis from IMdb: After a disastrous debut on the pro circuit, a young golfer finds himself unexpectedly stranded in Utopia, Texas and welcomed by an eccentric rancher.
My Thoughts: Friday night after a short but long week at work and a wicked day of firefighting on the IT front line at a large law firm, I came home to an enjoyable dinner of tasty tacos with my hubby. He had scheduled a band practice for the evening (the second one of the week), so I attempted to read, but couldn’t concentrate. I switch to surfing through my Netflix streaming queue and stumbled across Seven Days in Utopia, seeing that Robert Duvall starred in the movie. You can rarely go wrong watching Duvall, so I started watching while the band in the basement practiced classic rock covers.
Golf is not my go-to-sports-drama film. Outside of Caddyshack (and that’s a stretch) or Tin Cup, I can’t think of another golf movie I’ve watched. I prefer baseball sports dramas (A League of Their Own, Bull Durham, Major League, The Sandlot, etc.) and the occasional football one (The Blind Side, Radio, Remember the Titans, Friday Night Lights, etc.). With Mr. Duvall headlining the not-too-shabby cast in Seven Days in Utopia, I expected a lot more than what I got.
Christianity Today‘s review, which gave the film only 1.5 stars, said it best:
The movie gushes with virtues and even points to Christianity for peace. But despite striving for authenticity—including a role by touring pro KJ Choi—the story fails to deliver genuine characters or plausible storytelling. The sloppy screenplay—by Cook, the director, and two other writers—wants us to be inspired while lazily rehashing clichés seen many times before in far better films.
Seven Days in Utopia review written by Russ Breimeier, September 2, 2011
I kept watching to the end, which really wasn’t an ending, only because I kept praying, literally, that it would get better. Sadly, I was disappointed. Save yourself the 98 minutes and watch something better told and more inspiring.
