For lovers of golf and/or underdog sports dramas

Rating: 6/10 (30 September 2005)

Let me go ahead and clear this up - no, The Greatest Game Ever Played is not about the time I led my softball team to victory by knocking in the winning run with a triple. Instead, it's about golf. More specifically, it's based on the book that's based on the true story of Frances Ouimet.
The story is so simple that even a Tennessee Vols fan can follow it - boy loves golf, boy becomes caddy, boy begins to play golf, dad isn't happy because he thinks it's a waste of time, boy miraculously overcomes insanely enormous odds, movie gives audience a bunch of warm and fuzzy feelings, the end. I'll leave it to you to guess the outcome and whether the boy's father eventually accepts his son following his dream.
This is one of those movies that will absolutely thrill its target audience. If you love golf or Disney-produced underdog movies then you'll enjoy this one. For me, it's one of those movies that's good for one viewing. I enjoyed it, but it was a little slow-paced at times, and since I already knew the outcome of the match I wasn't completely enthralled with the tension that Bill Paxton tries to derive by following a golf ball on its arduous journey to the hole. However, others in the audience would clap wildly at every long putt that was sunk.
I have to point out that I didn't find the fat little 10-year-old caddy as cute as most everybody else in the audience. He had some funny moments, but his little one-liners grated my nerves: "easy peasey, lemon squeezey;" "okey dokey, pipe n' smokey;" "read it, roll it, and hole it." Sure, the audience guffawed with overdone laughter, but it just seemed to me that this was an attempt to create some new catchphrases for people all over the world to start using on golf courses. I pray that doesn't happen. Allow me to introduce my own catchphrase to whoever thought these annoying lines were cute enough to put into the movie: shovey wovey up your butty.
Hey, I never said I'm all that mature.