Based on the real-life story of golf legend Bobby Jones, Bobby Jones, Stroke of Genius features Jim Caviezel as the temperamental but highly talented amateur who threw a wrench in the golf world of the mid-'20s. Though Jones would eventually become the founder of the internationally renowned Augusta National Golf Club, which is father to the prestigious annual tournament known as The Masters, the combination of his ambition and tumultuous relationship with the media interfered with his personal
life to such an extent that his future in the sport seemed doomed. With the help of his wife, Mary Malone Jones (Claire Forlani), the gifted, oftentimes tortured golfer was forced to balance his family life and the public scrutiny regarding his golf career, lest both of them dissolve entirely. Directed by Rowdy Herrington, the film also stars Jeremy Northam, Aidan Quinn, and Malcolm McDowell. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi
Delivers nothing more and nothing less than one would expect from a boilerplate sports biography, which is to say, the standard triumph against a litany of standard obstacles.
For the most part, it's an act of big-screen worship. As drama, this one would have been better had it been a little more willing to go into the rough.
Was Bobby Jones really this great a guy? Who knows? But after watching the greed that has consumed sports and the anti-heroes that have consumed modern films, finding someone to clap for is an OK way to pass the time.
In going after a "Seabiscuit" type of movie about the famous '30s amateur golfer Bobby Jones, the filmmakers chose a double epithet for a biopic that gets nowhere near that film's captivating sports story from the same era.
The film has its sappy, predictable moments, but the gorgeous cinematography, apt direction and fine acting more than compensate. Think of it like Chariots of Fire on the golf course.
Caviezel é claramente velho demais para o papel, o que já o tornaria uma escolha inadequada - mas, além disso, jamais convence ao retratar o temperamento explosivo de Jones.
...[so] reverential that star Jim Caviezel may as well be playing Jesus...Stroke of Genius strikes me as a labor of love; for most audiences, it will be just a labor.
Destined to reach a tiny audience of serious golf fanatics and Caviezel fans… Caviezel convincingly projects Jones's sincerity, flashes of anger, and bursts of pain.
Extraordinary biographic story of a famous golfer champion in the history who truimphs over himself. I love biography of famous sportstars.
May 27, 2007
Dean McKenna
Super Reviewer
It is a bit long and rather predictable but the enthusiastic cast is a big help and it does look good - fine cinematography, good costumes. The pacing is uneven and it is about golf, hardly an exciting sport for most.
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