Linkshoch Wonderful Movie

Dirtylogy It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Mark Honhorst Trite, clichéd, predictable and dull, here's "Seven Days in Utopia". Stop me if you've heard this before- a down on his luck golfer becomes stranded in a small town where he just so happens to meet an elderly man (Robert Duvall) who just so happens to be an ex golfer. What are the odds of that? The old man becomes a mentor of sorts and reteaches him how to play the game, readying him for the next Texas Open. The golfer also finds love in a girl who just recently lost her father and has to contend with a few town bullies. Sound familiar? This movie borrows from virtually every single sports movie ever made ,but refuses to add anything new to the mix. You don't really need to even pay attention to it, as you know exactly what is happening the entire time.While not technically a poorly made film, the performances are, for the most part, lifeless, as the actors portray characters who are flat and simply uninteresting. I bought this mainly because Robert Duvall was in it, and even he didn't do much for this film. "Major Predictable Spoilers ahead!" Anyway, up to the very end, I was planning on giving this a 3 or 4. It was bad, but at least it seemed to be able to tell a decent, if thoroughly covered ,story. However, this is what happened. The movie actually ends before you see if he made the last hole or not! Okay, leaving it up in the air is okay, but here's what sealed the "One Star" deal for me. Before the credits role, a note crawls up saying "To see if he made the last putt, visit blahblahwhatever.com...." are you kidding me? The film makers can't even tell the complete story within their entire freakin' movie? They're advertising a website to go to see if he won or not! That really ticked me off!So, all in all, avoid this one. Entirely predictable, with an infuriating ending.Anyway

docc1 If I had read the plot of the movie beforehand, I would have skipped it. And ten-or-so minutes into the film, it seemed like it was going to be a hackneyed, cloying been-there-done-that type of film. For some reason, I was enjoying it just enough not to stop watching. The film - be it considered a parable, a sports story or a bit of cinematic religious dogma - somehow transcends all of these. Yes, the characters are stereotyped, and the movie, as any first-year college student of writing could tell you, needs all of them to interplay with each other. Film-writing 101. The film, though, has sensitive writing (no freshmen college kids in the writing pool, obviously), great acting (Duvall and Black are both wonderful), phenomenal cinematography, and, in all, tends to be a touching film, rather than an annoying treacly bit of fluff. I never would have guessed from either the synopsis of the film nor from the first few minutes that it would make it to my "save for repeat viewing" bin.

dgriggs6 I am an avid and pretty good golfer. Have played it for about 55 years now. Although the opening scenes in which Luke self-destructs on the 18th hole of the final round of a very important golf tournament for him -- when he foolishly listens to bad advice from his very bossy, caddying father -- was very contrived, at least something like that conceivably could happen. Later Luke drives through the countryside of the Texas hill country and decides to take the turn to a community called Utopia. Then there is another very unrealistic scene. Luke is driving and stares at a guy (turns out to be Duvall/Johnny Crawford) in a field placing flagsticks in what does not look like (but is) a golf course. Doesn't look at the road ahead of him for about 4 seconds, then finally returns his gaze and discovers an enormous steer standing in the road directly ahead of him. Instead of abruptly down-shifting and braking, he turns off the road and slams his car into and through a sturdy wooden fence. Others here describe what happens in Utopia, quite a bit of which I liked. But at the end of the movie, after he gets into the Texas Open (an official PGA event) and has a chance to win it all, they don't even show the final putt!!! STUPID!!!

duncanhad This movie was in the same genre as 'The karate Kid' and countless other movies..disgruntled teen meets Yoda type character and discovers how golf/boxing/karate is a metaphor for buddhism/Christianity.Golf is like fly fishing, you should picture your shots before you take them, bury your bad feelings...it was like a smörgåsbord of clichés.There is always a girl involved and an anti hero - and I think you can guess the plot of the movie from that - and it does not disappoint. I was hoping that it would at least have an original ending - however it could not even come up with one! You had to come up with one yourself!At the end of the movie I felt I had been bombarded with Christian propaganda, product placement (there was Callaway on everything! The type of driver was even mentioned on the commentary in the closing scene) and tourism to Texas.Bland writing, directing, editing and acting - a perfect storm of blandness.