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63
11th Hour, The
47
27 Dresses
29
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
39
Alvin and the Chipmunks
81
Bamako
84
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
47
Bella
68
Business of Being Born, The
69
Charlie Wilson's War
64
Cloverfield
30
Cover
68
Delirious
92
Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
43
Final Season, The
41
First Sunday
51
Golden Compass, The
49
Good Night, The
65
Great Debaters, The
63
Hannah Takes the Stairs
52
Hollywood Dreams
7
Hottie and the Nottie, The
60
I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With
15
In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
81
Juno
70
Lars and the Real Girl
47
Lions for Lambs
41
Mad Money
71
Manda Bala (Send a Bullet)
xx
Moondance Alexander
53
Music Within
77
Nanking
44
Nina's Heavenly Delights
24
One Missed Call
74
Orphanage, The
30
Over Her Dead Body
39
P.S. I Love You
37
P2
46
Reservation Road
55
Resurrecting the Champ
57
Romulus, My Father
85
Savages, The
78
Starting Out in the Evening
83
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
57
Teeth
92
There Will Be Blood
38
Trailer Park Boys: The Movie
32
Untraceable
63
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
68
War Dance
71
Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, The
43
Youth Without Youth
92
Diving Bell and the Butterfly, The
92
There Will Be Blood
85
Savages, The
84
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead
83
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
81
Juno
81
Bamako
78
Starting Out in the Evening
77
Nanking
74
Orphanage, The
71
Water Horse: Legend of the Deep, The
71
Manda Bala (Send a Bullet)
70
Lars and the Real Girl
69
Charlie Wilson's War
68
Business of Being Born, The
68
Delirious
68
War Dance
65
Great Debaters, The
64
Cloverfield
63
Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
63
11th Hour, The
63
Hannah Takes the Stairs
60
I Want Someone to Eat Cheese With
57
Romulus, My Father
57
Teeth
55
Resurrecting the Champ
53
Music Within
52
Hollywood Dreams
51
Golden Compass, The
49
Good Night, The
47
Bella
47
Lions for Lambs
47
27 Dresses
46
Reservation Road
44
Nina's Heavenly Delights
43
Youth Without Youth
43
Final Season, The
41
Mad Money
41
First Sunday
39
Alvin and the Chipmunks
39
P.S. I Love You
38
Trailer Park Boys: The Movie
37
P2
32
Untraceable
30
Over Her Dead Body
30
Cover
29
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
24
One Missed Call
15
In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale
7
Hottie and the Nottie, The
xx
Moondance Alexander
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Legend of Bagger Vance, The
DreamWorks Pictures
FILM:
MPAA RATING: PG-13 for some sexual content
Starring
Will Smith,
Matt Damon,
Charlize Theron,
and
Andrea Powell
Set against the backdrop of a golf tournament in 1930's Georgia, this is the classic joumey of a hero (Damon) who falls into darkness through some disconnect with his soul, and then of his coming back into the light with the help of a spiritual guide (Smith). (DreamWorks)
| GENRE(S): |
Romance
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Steven Pressfield (novel)
Jeremy Leven
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Robert Redford
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: April 3, 2001
Video: April 3, 2001
Theatrical: November 3, 2000
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
126 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
88
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
It handles a sports movie the way Billie Holiday handled a trashy song, by finding the love and pain beneath the story.

80
Chicago Reader
Lisa Alspector
After a slow setup, this charming fable wisely spends most of its time on the golf course.

80
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
Redford plays the game of filmmaking to reveal what he holds sacred: story, character, feeling, thoughtful pacing, and an alertness of nuances of honor and shame that most movies skip in the rush to the rush.
75
Boston Globe
Jay Carr
It offers pleasures of a kind that fewer and fewer films even seem to remember, much less aspire to.

67
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
William Arnold
Despite some engaging performances and good scenes, it's by far the least original, and least accomplished, of the six Redford-directed films.

63
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
Though it's sweet and likable to a fault, it's also a movie that never seems heartfelt or deep.

63
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
Your reaction will depend on your response to the title character, who's meant to be God or one of God's messengers.

63
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
A temple of enlightenment posing as a movie.

63
San Francisco Examiner
Wesley Morris
As entertaining, charming and conceited as other Robert Redford joints, but it's also insufferably obvious.

63
USA Today
Susan Wloszczyna
Molasses-paced fable.

60
TV Guide
Frank Lovece
Some brilliant human moments do emerge, and there's nothing wrong with a reminder to live life in harmony, and not to beat yourself up.

60
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
So meticulous in its craftsmanship and so earnest in its storytelling that it feels both physically and spiritually airbrushed.

60
Village Voice
Amy Taubin
More mushy than mystical.

58
Entertainment Weekly
Lisa Schwarzbaum
There's not a moment in Bagger Vance that can't be anticipated.

50
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
A knuckleheaded period piece.

50
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
The lack of cynicism is refreshing, but someone needed to tell Redford pixie dust and a nine-iron will only get you so far.

50
Variety
Todd McCarthy
A lightweight, modestly engaging yarn sporting reductive mystical and philosophical elements that are both valid and borderline silly.

50
Dallas Observer
Gregory Weinkauf
If you love the excitement of watching golf, this Damon-Smith bore is right up your fairway.

50
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
The trouble lies in its stereotypical style, its schmaltzy emotionalism.

50
Film.com
Robert Horton
The result is fantasy that wafts away.

50
Baltimore Sun
Chris Kaltenbach
The Legend of Bagger Vance is nothing but "The Natural" with Will Smith playing the bat.

50
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
Redford glances too lightly off the story's racial questions. You could call that approach "eminently tasteful" if you're looking for a nice substitute for "wimpy."

50
New York Post
Lou Lumenick
So slow the movie itself seems to be suffering from a hardening of the arteries.

50
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
Stunning camera shots by ace Michael Ballhaus are lovely to look at, and the performances are all excellent.

50
San Francisco Chronicle
Bob Graham
A pleasant myth.

48
Mr. Showbiz
Cody Clark
Without full-bodied characters to play, Smith and Damon are left to get by on their native charm -- something both have in considerable quantity, thankfully.

42
Portland Oregonian
Shawn Levy
What it plays like is a trifling story strung out to great length without much narrative drive, tinged with some disturbing racial undertones.

40
TNT RoughCut
Andy Klein
Middlebrow art has its built-in pitfalls, not the least of them sentimentality and intellectual flabbiness -- both of which are in abundant supply in Bagger Vance.

40
LA Weekly
Ella Taylor
Leven's tepid screenplay and the passionless self-control of Redford's direction make this bloodless movie a chore to sit through.

40
Time
Richard Schickel
The actors, especially the ever appealing Smith, do what they can to ground the movie in reality, but it stubbornly remains dawdling, remote and pretentious.

30
Film.com
Peter Brunette
The real problem is that it's not a very good Hollywood film, and its flaccid style, cardboard characters, and paint-by-the-numbers plot make watching it a chore.

30
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
This saved-by-an-angel story is redeemed mostly by Smith's comic instincts.

30
Washington Post
Rita Kempley
A slight, disingenuous script that robs the characters of their histories.

20
Slate
David Edelstein
The movie is one dead, overcomposed scene after another.

10
The New York Times
Dana Stevens
Not only is it excruciatingly boring -- but its central premises are so banal and dubious as to border on offensiveness.


The average user rating for this movie is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 7 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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