Review of The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000) by Raji K — 18 Feb 2017

Matt Damon and Will Smith star in the Legend of Bagger Vance. An old man Hardy Greaves (Jack Lemmon) recalls the tale of his favorite golfer of all time. Matt Damon is Rannulph Junnuh a legendary golfer that was setting world records. When the war comes, he loses himself, and loses contact with his wife Adele (Charlize Theron). A broken man and lost, he has no much drive to go on never mind play golf. He gets a chance to redeem himself when a golf tournament comes up where he would play against two other legendary golfers.

He does not have any faith, until a mysterious caddy Bagger Vance (Will Smith) shows up and gives him pointers on how to get his legendary swing back. He agrees to get in the tournament, and it begins. Despite being 12 strokes behind Vance tells him he is still in it. The tournament continues on as Junnuh continues to find his game, himself, and repair the relationships he lost.

The Legend of Bagger Vance is sadly only an average golfing movie. I expected more from Will Smith and really hoped for a great performance. He seems adequate. Damon is fine as the struggling young golfer. The movie still has a sense of charm to it, but the film does not ever live up to the potential. The rivalry between Junnuh and the legendary Bobby Jones just does not seem to have the appeal it could have and this movie seems subpar to Disney's "The Greatest Game Ever". The film is a typical playing and getting through adversity type film, but does not offer much beyond that which is disappointing giving the cast and director Robert Redford.

-2.18.2017.