Best movie of this year hands down!

Brilliant and touching

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Great Film period. Long reviews are not necessary. Just watch it .

Rannulph Junuh was once a great golfer but serving in WW1 has left him a shell of his former self. He is invited to play in a exhibition golf tournament - the only other two competitors are two all-time greats, Bobby Jones and Walter Hagen. Junuh is then approached by a mysterious man who offers to be his caddie - Bagger Vance.Entertaining at times, but mostly predictable and trite. The plot is far-fetched, holey and filled with platitudes. Fairly good acting by Matt Damon and Charlize Theron. Will Smith overdoes the home-spun advice witticisms and his character, that of Bagger Vance, becomes irritating.Directed by Robert Redford. He is capable of much better efforts, as "Ordinary People", "Quiz Show" and "A River Runs Through It" demonstrated.

This tale hangs on a well-worn peg. An African-American (Smith) acts as coach and mentor to a talented young white man (Damon) who must overcome inner demons.The game is golf. But Smith, who wanders into Damon's yard out of the night, is something more than a supportive friend. His lines turn him into a Zen master. "Every man has that perfect swing inside him." "You lost your swing but you don't find it -- it finds you." "Close your eyes and feel the field." "Golf is a game that can't be won, only played." That last one is a doozie because life has that same quality of course. The last we see of Smith is his silhouette, wandering off, hands in pockets, into a florid sunset. He came like water and like the wind he went.But Smith has some of the better lines too. In an important match, the Savanna Open or the Atlanta Closed or something, Damon winds up in the sand trap, the ball half buried. He turns to Smith, who is watching dispassionately. "What do I do now?" Smith: "About what?" The director, Robert Redford, has turned golf into a religious experience. Mystical music play while Damon contemplates the field. It's like watching Ben Hur play golf. And when the little white ball sails through the air, we hear a heavenly chorus.Golf, despite its sanctity and the imprimatur of St. Andrew himself, has always struck me as absurd. Grown men taking a stick and trying to knock a little ball into a hole in the earth. Take away the sticks, shrink the field, and you'd have a great game of marbles.Redford doesn't spell out all the technical details although they sometimes crop up willy nilly in the dialog. I never had the slightest idea of what a sand trap had a "lip" or what an "iron" was. Now I have the slightest idea. You can pick up the argot from the context.The photography of South Carolina is exquisitely done and the period details are amusing to see. The performances are all professional too. I particularly liked Charlize Theron as one of Damon's demons, the other being his shattering experiences in World War I. Certainly, Theron is beautiful but Hollywood is filled with beautiful women. Theron has rather more than these accidental attributes going for her. For one thing, she is a polished ballerina and can still bust a couple of tough moves. For another, she speaks Afrikaans. Her rosy aereolae may be a bit circumscribed in their extent but she can be forgiven for that. It's curious that her theme line with Damon should be "I like the way you dance." In many ways -- in many fundamental ways -- it's a dumb movie, but it's done so well that I hung with it, tensely, until the inevitable outcome of the only golf match the movie shows us.

Yeah, I'll be honest this was a little dull even with everything going for it which included Robert Redford as director, a big budget and a great cast. It just failed to capture me on any level; with sport, magic, love or even inspiration, it was all just very long and very bland.The story is set in the 1920's following a golfer who returns from WW1 and attempts to recover his game and his life with help from a mystical caddy. It's definitely a very watchable movie, beautifully shot and with great performances.I really enjoyed Jack Lemmon (in his last movie role) and also the kid that played him as a young boy. Will Smith as 'Bagger' was good, everyone involved was. Charlize Theron; beautiful, nice accent. Matt Damon, well sure, good enough but I never really got that he was suffering from the war in any way, he was just subdued, wanted to be left alone and enjoyed a cocktail or two in the gambling den.And wow do they ever play a lot of golf. I mean I get that this is a "golf movie" but did we really need to see every swing from their 3 day marathon game? 11/24/14