Dead Solid Perfect

...not nearly as funny as the book. Why? Mainly because they had to clean the language and nearly everything else up from the book or the film would have been rated X. Dan Jenkins writes hilarious books but they tend to have a lot of cussin' in them. His use of the English language has a decided Texas tint to it and it is flat-dab funny! I love Jenkin's writing style. He's written several funny books, probably the most popular of which is Semi-Tough, which was also made into a film. However, it, too, fell short of the book. But that's a different review. This film is still pretty dang funny, so by all means watch it. But be sure to pick up the book!

The novel "Dead Solid Perfect", by esteemed sportswriter Dan Jenkins, created and perfected the golf novel in one fell swoop. This movie version will feel familiar if you've read the book; there are lots of situations and specific lines in the movie that are straight out of the book - but they are generally switched around to different spots in the story, or spoken by different characters. Even the names of characters from the book are changed, or in some cases, used for completely different characters in the movie - even the name of the main character is changed, from Kenny Lee Puckett to just Kenny Lee.

The movie also completely cuts out the backstory reminiscences about Kenny's youth in Fort Worth, though they might have been too much to include in a TV movie.

The movie is a pretty good '80s golf time capsule, and golfers who are old enough to remember this era will recognize the names of real-life pros whose names come up in conversation or appear on scoreboards in the film. On that basis alone the movie might be enjoyable - IF you haven't read the book.

It's hard to believe that Jenkins, even though he co-wrote the screenplay, could have been happy about the mess that was made of his book in its translation to the screen - I know I wasn't. I've read the book at least a dozen times; it's the reason I got interested in playing golf and eventually writing about golf myself, and it's disorienting and more than a little disappointing to see the story so scrambled up and watered down.

Although not his biggest commercial success, ‘Dead Solid Perfect' may be the funniest book written by one of this country's great talents, Dan Jenkins.

In the text, there is a combination of comedic genius, and a true love for the subject matter, the game of golf. Add 50 some years of experience reporting on the game, and Mr. Jenkins has just about every aspect of this story nailed, cold.

I know many who think one of his earlier books, Semi-Tough to be an exemplary piece of writing, I agree, but the film it produced turned out luke-warm as best.

This film is better, although it can not be described with the superlatives of Jenkins original. Sometimes it's just impossible to capture the essence of such multi-layered characters on film in 2 hours or less.

Not to knock Bobby Roth, or the two principals, Randy Quaid, and Jack Warden who both did good turns: Quaid as Kenny Lee, the talented but struggling tour golfer and Warden as `Bad-Hair' Wimberly, the cash-rich sponsor. The film stumbles and rumbles to a storybook conclusion.

For golf fans it's a good movie and certainly more honest and original than Tin Cup. For the rest I'd say only fair.

Corinne has a small but highly memorable part as "Janie Rimmer", Randy Quaid's girlfriend. When challenged to go nude to the the hallway ice machine, she does so, in a slow, proud walk that shows off her incredible body. Ah, happy sigh.......

"Dead Solid Perfect" is another stereotyped sports movie, only this time it's not the underdog baseball team we're rooting for, it's Randy Quaid playing a second tier pro golfer. In the movie's favor is the fact that Quaid is somewhat sympathetic, as opposed to the obnoxious characters he usually plays. The film is part golf movie and part relationship primer, pretty accurately depicting the conflicts between men and women who are involved with the tour. Of special note is Jack Warden's performance as Randy Quaid's sponsor. Warden easily steals every scene he is in. If the predictability of "Dead Solid Perfect" can be overlooked, you will find it entertaining. - MERK