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Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius
Metascore
45 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 28 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 28
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 28
  3. Negative: 7 out of 28
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  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    75
    Tells this story in a straightforward, calm way that works ideally as the chronicle of a man's life but perhaps less ideally as drama.
  2. Variety
    Reviewed by: David Rooney
    70
    This exceedingly long-winded but classy drama could appeal to the same strain of infrequent, regional moviegoers looking for righteous entertainment that flocked to "The Passion of the Christ."
  3. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: J.R. Jones
    70
    Caviezel (The Passion of the Christ) gives a quietly focused performance in the title role, ably assisted by Brett Rice as Jones's father, Jeremy Northam as golf rival Walter Hagen, and Malcolm McDowell as sportswriter O.D. Keeler.
  4. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    63
    This is an old-fashioned sports hagiography of the sort that Gary Cooper used to star in while Teresa Wright sat smiling and worried on the sidelines, and, amazingly, it engages your attention and even respect while trotting out every clubhouse cliche in the book.
  5. Charlotte Observer
    Reviewed by: Lawrence Toppman
    63
    It requires an almost childlike faith to get into the spirit of Stroke of Genius, an old-fashioned willingness to believe that the world was once this way - and might, somehow, become this way again.
  6. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Frank Scheck
    60
    The film becomes markedly more entertaining with every appearance by Walter Hagen (Jeremy Northam), Jones' archrival, a raconteur and bon vivant who, though fiercely competitive, enjoyed playing while drunk and clad in a tuxedo.
  7. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: John Patterson
    60
    Sadly for dramatic purposes, Jones' achievements seemed effortless, and the movie could really use the odd Ty Cobb wig-out.
  8. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Mark Holcomb
    60
    Despite Herrington's skill at capturing the physicality of the game, Stroke is strictly for golf nuts and masochists--assuming there's a difference.
  9. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Staff (Not credited)
    58
    It's pleasing to see Jones triumph, digging his way out of sand traps with miraculous wedge shots, but ''Stroke of Genius'' is proof that when a movie is nothing but inspirational, it can sink and disappear into a field of dreams.
  10. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: William Arnold
    58
    There's much to admire in this ambitious indie: top-notch production values, a gallery of evocative period detail (with location work on Scotland's famed St. Andrews' course) and solid performances from a cast .
  11. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    50
    It's too bad. Jones deserved better than a biopic with a TV-movie heart.
  12. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    50
    True-blue golf buffs should find it a treat. For others it's no deeper than a tin cup on a putting green.
  13. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Peter Hartlaub
    50
    It's too much feel-good movie to take in one sitting, but Stroke of Genius captures just enough detail from the greatest sportsman you've never heard of to keep the historical drama interesting.
  14. Baltimore Sun
    Reviewed by: Chris Kaltenbach
    50
    Though lovingly crafted and beautifully photographed, the movie does little to make Jones seem compelling, or even all that good.
  15. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    50
    Ultimately, the more intensely you buy into the notion that golf is a complex metaphor for the human condition, the more susceptible you'll be to the film's insipid blandishments.
  16. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Marc Mohan
    50
    It's passable, but in telling the tale of a man known to attempt the risky drive, it's a shame the filmmakers decided to shoot for par.
  17. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Bill Gallo
    50
    What a shame to squander the dramatic riches of Jones's life on third-rate caricature and paint-by-numbers storytelling.
  18. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Crust
    50
    Marred by a flat, conservative script and an overreliance on the tried and true. It feels like a movie we've seen before.
  19. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Michael O'Sullivan
    50
    It isn't that Bobby Jones is especially bad. It's just not especially good, either.
  20. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Scott Tobias
    40
    Duller than a rain delay on the Golf Channel.
  21. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    40
    A high-minded, lethally dull biography of the legendary golfer Bobby Jones.
  22. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Connie Ogle
    38
    Sluggish, uninspired drama.
  23. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jack Mathews
    38
    I love golf, history and good stories, and I found this to be among the most boring, flat and cliched sports movies I've ever seen.
  24. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Megan Lehmann
    38
    A sluggish meander through the life of the man considered by many to be a deity of golfing.
  25. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: David Hiltbrand
    38
    Bobby Jones plays out much like a round of golf - slow, old-fashioned, tediously long, and lacking in drama.
  26. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marjorie Baumgarten
    30
    It seems nothing is left out, and the movie makes us begin to feel as though we've witnessed every swing the man ever swung.
  27. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Desson Thomson
    30
    Even the staunchest of golfheads must know they're watching a cut-and-trite accounting.
  28. Chicago Tribune
    Reviewed by: Rick Kogan
    0
    It was Mark Twain who famously said, "Golf is a good walk spoiled." I'm telling you that Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius is 120 minutes wasted.
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