Redford gets clubbed

>> The Legend of Bagger Vance lands in the crap trap

by MARK SLUTSKY

The last act of The Legend of Bagger Vance is bathed in a glowing, dusky light. By this point, Robert Redford's latest film is so desperate, in such complete shambles, it's all Mr. Sundance can do to induce any sort of feeling at all. The feeling--a vague aesthetic satisfaction--is all Bagger Vance really has going for it, and only in dollops. How could a golden boy like Redford make such a hash of what is essentially a simple, sentimental premise?

Bagger Vance lumbers to a start in the present day, with Hardy Greaves (Jack Lemmon) collapsing on a golf course. He's had a heart attack and he takes the time (coronary arrest never seemed so relaxing) to tell the story of his first infatuation with the sport. Seems that when he grew up in Savannah, Georgia, local golf hero Rannulph Junuh (Matt Damon) went away to fight in the Great War, and came back a changed man--ducking his fiancée (Charlize Theron) and hanging around in a shack for 12 years playing cards. When Theron organizes a golf tournament to save her poor dead daddy's estate (don't ask), Damon must step back onto the links to win back his self-respect and her love. He needn't go it alone, though, for a mysterious, magical caddy, the titular Bagger Vance (Will Smith) appears to coach him back to victory.

With little effort, the corny premise could have been whipped up into a simple, uplifting flick: what's amazing is how Redford thoroughly bungles it at every step. Bagger Vance just never, ever gels. It spends way too long awkwardly setting up its simple premise--we're talking high-school-play level of drama here--and the big tournament, when it comes, is just embarrassingly predictable. Nothing affects, especially when Redford merely keeps recycling his material: over, and over again, the same despairing moments on the green, the same "Play the game you were born with!" monologues, the same gimmicky ball's-eye-view cam. It's almost like he's trying frantically to finally get it right--but never does.

To be fair, maybe Bagger Vance has a couple of things in its favour: nice cinematography, competent, though unexciting, performances from Damon and Smith and Joel Gretsch, who charms as Damon's gentlemanly opponent. It's just not enough, though. Stay away from this sorry mistake.

The Legend of Bagger Vance opens Friday, Nov. 3