A Gentleman's Game

This film exposes the country club life, where the elitist a think they're better because of they're station in life, even over the other members in they're own club. A young golfers life is changed when he realizes how perverse the life he thought he wanted was and learns life lessons from an ex-pro who hung up his clubs for the very same reasons.

Timmy Price (Mason Gamble) is the son of a middle class family whose father belongs to the venerable and exclusive Fox Chase Golf Club. His well meaning father forces him to caddy at the club the summer he turns thirteen. At first Timmy doesn't fit in with the caddies, and is generally ignored as being another "members kid...who come to loop for one day and never come back..." Timmy keeps at the looping (caddying) though and soon discovers his own gift for the game.

While looping Timmy watches the members associate with each other and interact with the staff. Lessons about life and growing up are subtly characterized, often with nothing more than the actual events to relate Timmy's realizations. This is an excellent movie to watch in the "coming of age" genre. The movie is narrated by the "adult" Timmy as he is looking back at this time in his life. One of the strongest aspects of the film is that the whole story is conveyed without the sugary sentimentality or rose colored emotion that is often used to tell a coming of age story. Very refreshing.

There is no storyline. There is not one story but many and none of them is taken to a satisfying conclusion.

Frustrating : many good ideas potentially. The end result is a mess (ie not a documentary, not a film about golf, not a film about the relationship between the 2 main characters, not a father and son story...).

My vote : 5 / 10.

I had the good fortune of reading the book before seeing the movie. It was an epic of adolescence, a dream of summers gone, a great potential indie film or big budget drama. It somehow got into the hands of a hack, who clearly took notes watching Boogie Nights and Rushmore without actually learning anything at all. The script loses the meat of the book in favor of forced emotional notes and low brow gags. I feel sorry for the actors, since the characters in the book were rich and textured, but cut down to embarrassing charactures in the film. Mason Gamble is great when given the opportunity, as is Dylan Baker, but the skeleton that remains of the story plays out like a bad after school special. Poor people = GOOD, Rich people = BAD.

Though it's almost worth watching to see the Southern California beach where Gary Sinise parks his trailer which is meant to pass for a bay in Delaware.

It's a good book, but an embarrassing turn for first time director Mills Goodloe.

K.

As a fan of sport's films, I was really excited to see `A Gentleman's Game.' Although the movie revolves around golf, it's really more of a coming of age film.

Mason Gamble, who was so good in `Rushmore,' plays Timmy Price, a good kid who seems to have a talent for golf. He becomes a caddy at the snotty, local country club, and he soon learns rich people know nothing about being `gentlemen.' Soon, Timmy becomes a really great golfer, and he even surpasses the kid he emulates, the great Miles Dane. Miles Dane is a rich kid with a perfect swing, however, when it comes to class, Timmy proves that although he may not have the same kind of money as Miles and his finicky dad, he sure has a lot more class.

`A Gentleman's Game' is more in the lines of `Stand by Me' than, say, `The Bad News Bears.' It's an enjoyable film, the golf scenes are shot very well, and there is a surprise at the end. You'll like `A Gentleman's Game' even if you don't like golf. What I found to be really interesting is the kid who played Miles Dane had one hell of a good swing for such a young kid. I wouldn't be surprised if he was some kind of future golf pro.