The Legend of Bagger Vance

Starring: Will Smith, Matt Damon, Charlize Theron, Bruce McGill, Joel Gretsch, J. Michael Moncrief

Directed by: Robert Redford

Rating: An Adam Favorite

This movie is all about a young man who was a once hopeful master at the sport of golf until his dreams were shattered by being drafted into the army.  He has given up on that dream after returning home until he meets Bagger Vance (Smith), a mysterious stranger who helps him find his game and his life all over again.  That's pretty much a cookie cutter, back-of-the-box description of the movie.  

Particularly, Rannulph Junuh (Damon) decides to play again because Adele (Theron) has set up a golf tournament between the two greatest golfers in the country, Walter Hagen (McGill) and Bobby Jones (Gretsch), and everyone in town thinks they should have a local boy play in the tournament, too.  Rannulph basically gets drafted for that just like he did the army.  

The Good: 

• I've never seen a Will Smith film I didn't enjoy, and yes, I'm including Wild, Wild West in that grouping as well.  This movie is not different.  Smith is right on target with his character, Bagger. 
• Bagger is one of my favorite characters in movies.  He is one of those wise, mysterious characters that says so much with so little.  
• Damon is pretty much the same type of actor for me as Smith; I really enjoy all his films.  He's dead on here, too.  
• The supporting cast listed above is great.  I've never seen Moncrief or Gretsch in anything else, but they fit the bill here perfectly along with everyone else.  
• Redford really knew what he was doing on this one.  You can really tell he had the helm and kept things in line.  
• This is one of the few movies of recent years that's just a good movie.  There's no huge use of CG, explosions, or anything crazy.  It's just a good story, with good acting.  

The Bad: 

• The only bad thing I can really come up with at all is the accents.  The southern accents played off by a lot of the cast were way too heavy.  
• This is just my personal opinion, and I know it's not what the story is about, but I would like to have known where Bagger came from.  I get that it's part of the mystery in not knowing, but still...

The Ugly: 

• There's nothing ugly about this one at all.