movie review
Seven Days in Utopia
Lucas Black finds peace, faith and Robert Duvall in Texas
There have been one or two faith-based movies released each year over the past few years. Some are kind of corny (I’m looking at you, Fireproof) and some are well-done, but they all have a good message about faith, friendship, and finding your way in the world.
Seven Days in Utopia falls into the “well-done” category, thanks in part to great casting. It doesn’t get much better than Robert Duvall, Melissa Leo, Deborah Ann Woll, Kathy Baker and Lucas Black, who plays young golfer Luke Chisholm.
After a disastrous debut on the pro circuit, Luke finds himself unexpectedly stranded in Utopia, Texas, a tiny town with some 300 people who’ve all seen the TV clips of his meltdown on the golf course, especially the 18th hole where he angrily snapped a golf club in two. Not a great start to his pro career.
Then again, it’s not all bad because he ends up in Utopia, where he nearly runs down a cow, hurtles through a fence, and meets PGA-golfer-turned-rancher Johnny Crawford (Duvall), who offers Luke a place to stay until his car is fixed. Johnny makes a deal with Luke: stay in Utopia for seven days and he’ll teach him the meaning of life. Ok, he didn’t really say that. He said he’d help Johnny get his game back, which turns out to be pretty much the same thing.
So the two guys embark on a week of creative lessons that includes fly-fishing, painting, flying and mingling with the locals. Luke also meets and falls for Sarah (Deborah Ann Woll, a.k.a. Jessica the vampire on HBO’s True Blood), a budding horse whisperer.
Golf must be a pretty amazing sport, because it seems like every golf movie delves deep into a person’s soul to reveal the secrets of the universe. Or at least the secrets of a good golf game. Tin Cup and The Greatest Game Ever Played are two good examples.
But mostly what I love about Seven Days in Utopia is that it’s a simple story with no explosions, no guns, and no profanity. It proves that you don’t need those things to make a good movie. That filmmakers don’t need to dumb a movie down for us to come out to see it.
Of course, the Oscar-winning cast doesn’t hurt, and neither does a wonderful screenplay by David L. Cook, based on his own book, Golf’s Sacred Journey: Seven Days at the Links of Utopia. The cinematography is also gorgeous (it was actually filmed in Utopia, Texas).
I guess you’d call this a grown-up movie, but it’s also a good choice for thoughtful kids aged nine and older who don’t need giant robots or alien invasions to have a good time at the theater and learn something in the process.
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