User Reviews

Talented but unlucky golfer, Roy McAvoy (Kevin Costner) pursues glamorous therapist, Dr Molly Griswold (Rene Russo). Even though it's a Costner movie, it's actually a decent, surprisingly well-observed romantic comedy

The American Dream is brought nicely down to earth in this gentle comedy drama. Costner plays Roy McAvoy, an underachieving golf-whizz living in a small Texan town, who falls for Molly (Russo), the girlfriend of his arch rival David Simms (Don Johnson). Luckily for him, she agrees to sleep with him after he chips a ball from the clubhouse carpet and hits a pelican sitting outside. Molly gives Roy a good soul-searching pep talk and it isn't long before he's back playing professionally - and, before you know it, swinging his sticks in the US Open.

Tin Cup's big surprise is the film's unconventional ending, allowing us to forgive director Ron Shelton's clumsy, problematic dramatic structure and odd fascination with capturing Costner's highlighted mullet.

The dialogue and characters are convincing and intelligently developed. Russo wears vulnerability and neediness like a second skin, while Costner plays the tragic hero with considerable charm.

There are three reasons to watch this movie: Rene Russo, Cheech Marin, and Don Johnson. The rest of it is a waste of time. Kevin Costner's character, the protagonist, is a jerk from beginning to end. He never changes, he never learns anything, he is a total loser. I don't know whether to blame the script writer, the director, or Costner, but it doesn't really matter. The main character is entirely unsympathetic. Marin has some great lines, and he delivers them beautifully. Russo is sexy and plays her part perfectly. Johnson's performance is excellent, except for the one scene in which the director or scrip writer or someone decided that he needed to play completely out of character in order to make him the villain. It even appeared that he was embarrassed to have to do that scene, since it was totally inconsistent with the rest of his role. I will watch the film again, but just to enjoy watching Russo, Marin, and Johnson.

I am fascinated by this film, no doubt about it. It displays a great affection from the title character for the game of golf. However, his character itself makes me want to punch him in the face with a baseball bat. The way the character acts...

SPOILER ALERT!!!

... it just pisses me off beyond repair. He is a self-centered, worthless, girlfriend stealing asshole. With no respect for his friends nor anything for that matter except his blown up ego.

SPOILER ALERT END!!!

This movie however is a great film that is worth the watch, especially if you like golf!

This movie is what bull durham should have been. Enjoyable, the sport is portrayed well, comedy is good when enacted and the romance isn't that bad. Their are a few moments when I felt it was teetering to long on something boring or just not written well but overall not bad. The best part is that this was extraordinarily better than Bull Durham. It has love that affects the main character, a wacky sidekick, an enjoyable progression of the sport and semi somber ending. Except, it does all this better than Bull Durham. Portrayed well, slow paced when need be and fast when need be, as well as side characters that aren't annoying idiots adding nothing of value to the story. Overall 7/10 Do watch

Some actors are born to play a certain type of character. A youthful Tom Cruise was the archetypal wise-cracking upstart with aspirations for future greatness; Mark Ruffalo (of Collateral fame) has mastered the 'just got out of bed' role; and any wife played by Joan Allen is both sexually and spiritually unfulfilled. However there is no one who plays the laconic ageing sports pro better than Kevin Costner. Tin Cup sees Costner at his absolute best, embodying the everyman charm that won him so many fans in 'Field of Dreams' and 'Bull Durham', yet exceeding these performances with a depth and sense of impending fallibility that engages the audience to the extent that we hit every long iron and read every putt of Roy McAvoy's long journey into golfing legend.

Costner's McAvoy is introduced as a washed up Texan driving range pro, a once prodigious college golfer whose talent was unquestionable, but who was hamstrung by an explosive temperament. Its not until be begins to teach psychiatrist Molly Griswold (Rene Russo), and has a reunion with college rival David Sims (Don Johnson) that his competitive flame is reignited, and he seeks to qualify for the US Open prove his obvious brilliance to both himself and to the watching world. This wouldn't be Costner if he didn't have half an eye on Russo's character as well, and the two plots are interwoven to excellent effect.

I love the golfing action in the movie. While some of the shot making from McAvoy is simply farcical (if anyone's ever got backspin on a 250 yard 3 wood i'd love to hear from you - I trust my inbox will remain vacant), director Shelton racks up the tension, especially on the back nine stretch of the US Open, which inevitably sees McAvoy paired with Sims in a race for the trophy. Costner actually lowered his handicap to single figures whilst shooting the movie, so the action has an air of authenticity to it, especially considering the cameos of well known US Tour pros such as Phil Mickelson, Corey Pavin and Craig Stadler. The familiar voice of legendary commentator Gary McCord adds to the feeling that the proceedings are not that divorced from reality. Ben Curtis (an unknown) won the Open Championship in 2003 - his first tournament win.

The supporting cast is excellent. This was Johnson's last major film for a long time, yet it is textured valedictory performance, and Russo adds radiance with her subtle beauty. Cheech Marin threatens to steal the show as McAvoy's world-weary caddy, yet Costner is the big star here. I was delighted with the film's conclusion, an overt rebellion against sporting conformity.

As a film in this genre, Tin Cup is a brilliant success. Costner has since gone on to bigger and worser things yet signs of a return to form are promising, his new baseball movie The Upside of Anger (in which, naturally, he plays an ageing pro) is released in March 2005. While not everything about the film is good (a little less mawkishness wouldn't go amiss in the romance scenes, combined with as little of Linda Hart as is humanly possible), Costner is on top form, and even if you don't like golf there is enough here for anyone to enjoy. Highly recommended.

8.5/10

Like a lot of 80s movies this 90s attempt to cash in on Kevin Costner's sports movie appeal did not age well. Costner's character remains pretty unlikable throughout. Renée Russo's reprises her Major League role as a woman pretending to be strong and independent but quickly returns to being arm candy for a cute but toxic athlete. The dialogue is cringeworthy most of the movie, the timing is bad, the comedy isn't funny, and the sports scenes are not actually very good. The only saving grace is the iconic final scene where Costner keeps stubbornly hitting his failed shot again and again, throwing away a U. S. Open victory and proving that his character has not made any kind of arc, but ironically providing one of the most unexpected endings in a sports comedy movie by avoiding the predictable "protagonist underdog wins it all" trope. I hadn't seen it since it first came out, and that ending alone had stuck in my head, fooling me into thinking more highly of the film than it deserved. I rented it tonight and skipped through most of the middle third. Comedies are supposed to be 90 minutes long... this slow moving, babbling mess is appallingly over two hours. Definitely not worth sitting through.