Kevin Costner reborn in new golf comedy 'Tin Cup'

By Laksmi Pamuntjak-Djohan

JAKARTA (JP): Well-meaning people in your life have always said never to judge anything by its cover. Such is the case with Tin Cup -- the title does not seem to say anything beyond its literary meaning, and it has Kevin Costner in it.

After Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Wyatt Earp and the lackluster adventure Waterworld, what can we expect from him? One might give up on him being grossly miscast by Hollywood as the impossible hero-witness. He's just not cut out for it.

However, as a romantic comedy using golf as the metaphor for life and human failings -- which is exactly what it is intended to be -- Tin Cup is surprisingly heartwarming, down-to-earth, and very, very funny. Something that we can, to avoid a cliche, "relate to".

The first and obvious secret behind the success of Tin Cup is director Ron Shelton. That he is the only filmmaker today who has a masterful insight into the world of sports is an indisputable fact. His aptitude for making intelligent and realistic sports movies has been proven in Bull Durham (baseball), White Men Can't Jump and Blue Chips (basketball), The Best of Times (football), and, most recently, The Great White Hype (boxing).

That he has now dared venture into the realm of the impossible -- golf, that is -- is inherently risky, but he has done a good job out weaving an adult romance with the All-American story of a man struggling to rediscover himself through the sport he loves. While most sports movies tend to concentrate on flashy athletic showdowns and to relegate romance to being a mere subplot, Shelton manages to keep the two disparate elements on equal footing, lending the overall product a fine balance. And, although there is more than a hint of that "struggling underdog" worn-out cliche, it doesn't overwhelm the movie's better aspects.

The second secret is that Ron Shelton must be the only director in Hollywood today who really understands Kevin Costner. After all, it was he who gave Costner the Bull Durham role that made him a star in the first place. And it is in playing such roles, the talented boy-next-door with a baggage of "inner demons", that Costner is in his true element. His creased and weather-beaten character in Tin Cup is devilishly charming. With a hint of a beer belly, thinning hair, and a cheeky grin, he reeks of realism as the egoistic, immature, insecure, moody, quirky, vulnerable small-town boy -- a true study in classic male shortcomings.

Roy "Tin Cup" McAvoy (Costner) is a frustrated golf pro living in a trashed Winnebago in the remote Texas town of Salome. Once a college star, his penchant for going for the low-percentage, high-visibility and grand-standing trick shot instead of the smart, calculated one made him drop out of the school's pro tour before he could even qualify. He lives a marginal existence in the company of his best friend, "housemate", and occasional caddie Romeo Pasar (Cheech Marin). If not working for seven dollars an hour at a semi-abandoned driving range while dodging the IRS, he seems to spend all his spare time drinking, betting and hanging out with other losers. In between, he watches with seething bitterness as "the smart one", his old college partner, Dave Simms (Don Johnson), steadily rises through the PGA ranks. Wow. So much for a role model.

But of course all that has to change at one point, right? So enters gorgeous Dr. Molly Griswold (Rene Russo), a failed real estate agent turned psychotherapist, who one fine evening drops by the range for a few lessons with the "never was". The reason is as simple as it is improbable: she wants to impress her boyfriend. And who does the boyfriend turn out to be? Dave Simms, naturally.

What matters at this point is that Roy is so besotted that suddenly he is ready to leap on all fours to do whatever it takes to win Molly's love. That she is engaged to his arch rival and nemesis seems to make it all the more appropriate. Always one whose quintessential dilemma is "Will you define the moment - or will the moment define you?" he subsequently goes to Molly's office for therapy, does a lot of corny wooing, and decides to rededicate himself to his sport and win the U.S. Open. Given that the U.S. Open is the "biggest golf tournament in the world", it must qualify as "defining the moment".

On the surface, pushing these two radically different characters together sounds like a mismatch made in hell. Although Molly is slightly tentative, brittle, and nervous despite all the big city trappings, no one can trump Rene Russo when it comes to pedigree. Even when she has settled down and become "one of the boys", she still oozes class. Costner, on the other hand, is a true study in shabbiness. But then again, there is a kind of shabby dignity in being a momentarily broken-down hero -- it all adds up.

Strangely enough, there is a peculiar believability to their chemistry. It is obvious that they are comfortable with each other -- in any case, a more realistic reflection of their age. As Roy puts it, they fit each other like "a couple of old shoes". She gets cheeky. He cleans up. She drops her phony shrink talk. He becomes just as clean-cut as Mr. "Greek God" Simms.

The interplay between Roy and Romeo is as charming as any screen friendship can get. They hurl abuses at each other, sure, but candor only reflects genuine concern, and in the end they always come back to each other.

Even Don Johnson is great playing himself. The super-slick, super-handsome, super-jerk narcissist who every man would love to kill because they attract all the girls and hate the three things that every man is "supposed" to adore: "old people, children, and dogs".

In movies, as in real life, it is not enough to have a heart in the right place. While good intentions are nice, they need to be backed up by an intelligent script. Screenwriters John Norville and Ron Shelton offer us plenty of clever "battle-of-the-sexes" verbal ripostes. His sense of timing is also impeccable. In no time, even the golfspeak is infectious.

And, while Roy's obsession with the "eagle" may be perceived as either meaningless or plain stupidity, its significance in the story seems to be borne out of Shelton's in-depth knowledge of the sports world. He knows that such risky "make or break" shots are what sports fans live and die for.

As an added bonus, expect cameos by some of golf's best players including Peter Jacobsen, Craig Stadler, Lee Janzen, Fred Couples, Gary McCord, and Phil Mickelson. It's all worth it.