“Seven Days in Utopia” is based on the 2009 best-selling novel: “Golf’s Sacred Journey: Seven Days at the Links of Utopia”, by David Cook. It’s the story of a young pro golfer who needs help in becoming a better player and a better person. While it’s corny and formulaic, it’s also a rare sports movie that doesn’t simply focus on winning and losing.
Lucas Black stars as Luke Chisholm, who, from a very young age, has been pushed by his father to become a great golfer. On the final hole of a tournament in Texas Luke has a meltdown, loses the tournament and his father, who’s also his caddie, walks away from him. On his way home he stumbles upon the very small town of Utopia where he meets Johnny (played by Robert Duvall). Johnny runs the town’s golf course and also used to be a pro golfer.
Over the next seven days Johnny uses some rather unique methods to try to teach Luke how to improve his game both physically and mentally. The two develop a nice relationship as the old master passes along his wisdom on golf and life to the young student. It’s not Yoda and Luke Skywalker, but many of the scenes between Black and Duvall are quite good.
Overall, “Seven Days in Utopia” is nice, but the story has too many holes – and I don’t mean golf holes. Clearly there were some scenes missing in the screening I saw because at least one major plot point is never explained. And in general the editing is very choppy. And there are flashback scenes in which the characters ages are questionable.
On the positive side there are some unpredictable moments, including a somewhat surprise ending. And, just as with this year’s “Soul Surfer”, there’s a Christian element to the story that’s right out in the open. It’s refreshing to see God referred to in a motion picture in a serious, spiritual way. You can tell this isn’t a Hollywood production.
As for the performances, Duvall is fanatastic. Even in a small film such as this he gives his all and proves, once again, that he is one of our finest actors. Black is just o.k., but there are very few actors who don’t looks average when they share the screen with Duvall. Both Melissa Leo and Kathy Baker have very small, supporting roles. Deborah Ann Woll (TV’s True Blood) is very good as Luke’s love interest.
The worst part of the movie is that writer/director Matthew Dean Russell spends the last half hour with Luke’s comeback tournament. The two Golf Channel announcers get more screen time than any of the actors from that point on. Russell stages a realistic-looking tournament, but the sequence goes on forever and is BORING! It could have been handled, more effectively, in half the time.
“Seven Days in Utopia” is rated G. There’s nothing here for anyone to worry about. But if your not a golf fan it may to tough to get through, which is too bad, because the film’s main message is that life is more important than golf. But the movie doesn’t follow it’s own advice. Still, I recommend it because of Duvall’s performance and the refreshing story.
On The Official Kid Critic Report Card, “Seven Days in Utopia” gets a C+.