A Gentleman's Game

Liked this movie very much. Not just a golf film. Has a lot of good messages about life. My husband also enjoyed it and did like the golf story in it. Well acted by all involved. I recommend it for men and women. A little language, but made movie real world.

This really is a great little golf movie. Based on a novel by Tom Coyne Gentleman's Game picks up where Caddy Shack leaves off and doesn't go near Tin Cup or Baggar Vance for being pretentious.

The story revolves around Mason Gamble who plays Timmy Price, a young gifted golfer who is the focus of everyone's attention. Timmy's father, played by Kevin Thomas, will do everything in his power to get Timmy the right breaks.

From joining an exclusive country club, to pushing son Timmy to caddy at the elite Fox Chase Country Club to seeking the reclusive Foster Pierce, played by Gary Sinise, to groom young Timmy for the upcoming tournament it's all about the game.

Along the way Timmy and we discover the splendor of young love, the love of a father for a son and how a young man's search for excellence helps bring the withdrawn Foster Pierce back to the reality and self respect that he has run from.

Throw in Brian Doyle Murray's character, Tomato Face, that runs the caddy shack, a dark secret that the country club elite try to hide and a surprise confrontation between a black club pro and the elder patriarch of Fox Chase and you have a great story.

I don't golf but enjoyed this movie thoroughly and would recommend it to anyone who has a love of the game or a love of life.

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.

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.

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.