Pretty Good, Redford movies are better when he isn't in them.

Rating: 7/10 (20 November 2000)

The last movie I saw which Redford directed was The Horse Whisperer. Redford showed himself too much and the movie could have been edited down to about half its length.
This one doesn't have Redford in it, so he does a pretty good job of keeping the pace moving.
Matt Damon is a great actor, but only good here. As an avid golfer I would have to say his swing is fairly flawed and the way he leaves his hips out means there is absolutely no way he could hit a golf ball 300 yards. However, his swing was perfect for the scenes where he was shanking the ball left and right. So I will give him a C grade on the golfing portion of his acting. Damon pulled off everything thing else with an A-. He was very good and had great chemistry with Charlize Theron. Her accent was off a bit, but not bad for someone from South Africa. Charlize gets a B.

Will Smith was a natural in his role and the highlight of the movie. Every moment he spent on the screen was perfect. A+ for Will.

Redford's direction was pretty good, but there were a few gaffes which are worth mentioning. Golf balls from the 20's did not have dimples. The close-ups of the balls showed 90's style golfs balls. This was quite lame. They were not made from polymers which made dimples possible until the late 40's. The balls were rubber on the outside and they would not have flown 300 yards if King Kong were hitting them with a wooden shafted club.

These technical glitches can be put aside because this movie wasn't really about golf they say. Well I say don't put golf in the story if you aren't going to do it right.
Redford gets a B-. Which is far from the D- I gave him for The Horse Whisperer.
Nice improvement Bob, Now remember to keep yourself out of the movies you direct.