Review of Seven Days in Utopia (2011) by Philip P — 03 Dec 2011

Initially I had no interest in seeing this Christian-based film about golf. Mainly because I have never had any interest in the sport. To be blunt, I have always found it boring and with the fact I was never able to make it through that Shia LaBeouf movie "The Greatest Game Ever Played" I didn't think this one stood a chance either.

I was partially right; by the time the last half hour of the film came around and it was as predictable as every other sports film I had completely lost interest. I imagined it might stand a chance of grasping my attention because I can always seem to find an interest in anything Mr.

Duvall is playing in but this movie skews so closely to the archetypes of every inspirational sports film it is hard not to dismiss it. Sure, the film has a good message and I wouldn't discourage people showing it to their children, but as someone who has seen the story multiple times I at least expected some interesting characters along the way.

Instead, even those are archetypes. Duvall as the ancient master who teaches the young student how to regain his way and stay on the right path. There is the innocent love interest that doesn't go anywhere and Melissa Leo seems to show up for no other reason than maybe she just wanted to be a part of the project.

It is an admirable effort, but it is nothing spectacular and you can see where things are going as soon as Lucas Black wrecks his car in the small town of Utopia. It is nice to see a young, credible actor such as Black not forgetting where he came from and he does his best with what he is given here, too bad it's not much.