Best movie of this year hands down!

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

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.

A great film. The idea of Will Smith and Matt Damon golfing together sounds more like an awful comedy. Caddy Shack 3 crosses my mind lol! The Legend of Bagger Vance is a great film on several fronts. The characters are well developed. Will Smith plays an honest/mysterious character. Matt Damon's excellent performance of a man with many inner demons, who hides from others. The other supporting characters around the golf community build on the story and create a positive spirit towards the story's climax of the golf tournament. The director blends an entertaining story with social messages. Can Damon win the golf tournament, and inspire people? Sportsmanship, professionalism, doing the right thing, and having ethics is spun as the characters develop. The Legend of Bagger Vance explains the mystery of the Will Smith's character. Inspiring, and entertaining. I give The Legend of Bagger Vance a par 8 out of 10.

The story is told by Hardy Greaves who growing up in Savannah, Georgia as a child idolized golfer Rannulph Junah (Matt Damon). Rannulph had married wealthy Adele Invergordon (Charlize Theron). However he returns from WWI broken and disappears. Adele moves on with her father's business to build a golf course in 1928. She finds Rannulph return to town but a year later, the great depression hit. The golf course is complete but the financial strain drive Adele's father to suicide. Adele struggles to keep the golf course open by organizing an exhibition between Bobby Jone (Joel Gretsch) and Walter Hagen (Bruce McGill) for a prize of $10k. In a town meeting, people demand for a local golfer but the drunken Captain Junah is reluctant to play. While trying to get back his swing late one night, Bagger Vance (Will Smith) asks for a job to caddy for the big game.It takes a bit of exposition to get started. Charlize Theron and Matt Damon starts off with an interesting period piece. Then Will Smith comes in and it slowly becomes obvious that this is some kind of Magical Negro that he's playing. This is apparently a fable where racism is not much mentioned nor noticed. It demands that the viewer forget any historical realism since this is a fable after all.The best thing about this is that Robert Redford has made a beautiful looking movie. It is however slow moving, and lacks the needed energy to keep up the pace for the whole 2 hours. My biggest problem is that the fable needs much more magic especially visually. Redford does a lot of speeding up the clouds and clouds rolling by and shots of nature and shots of sky and various other in-camera moves to denote magic. It needs something more. It needs something much more. It needs to put this movie definitively into the magical territories. This is not the simple period piece that Redford is creating. (small unimportant spoiler: even the last scene is too uncertain. Bagger Vance is waving old Hardy Greaves over. Redford really needs to spell out what's going on there.)The acting seems fine to me. Matt Damon and Charlize Theron have some nice scenes together. They have the best fun and I enjoy them the most. I'm not able to tell if the accents are accurate but I don't think it's so obvious that it would offend anybody other than southerners. Will Smith is playing someone unreal. He is almost otherworldly. If this isn't a fable, I'm tempted to say that he's playing it too fake. In the end, it's an uneven viewing experience.

To start off, I have NEVER written a review before. This movie, however, was honestly SO much more than I expected I could not help but write one -- and I truly believe this is a movie everyone should see. This movie is inspiring and speaks millions to overcoming the adversities of life. Just as golf is a game, so is life -- to some extent -- and cannot be won, but merely played.People that didn't like this movie obviously didn't think deep enough to realize how symbolic it truly is. Having had some rough patches in life myself this movie spoke deeply to me as I'm sure it will to many who see it. Don't pass on this movie by its lower rating. I'm generally a person who only watches movies 7 and up, but I am so glad I chose to watch this. I RARELY give movies a 10/10. I'm telling you though -- this movie deserves it.