Tin Cup

Even if you are not an avid golfer, you will enjoy this movie. A small town driving-range pro, Roy “Tin Cup” McAvoy (Kevin Costner) has all the potential to be a great player, but he lacks discipline and motivation, untill the beautiful, witty Dr. Molly Griswold (Rene Russo) comes into his life. Unfortunalty she is the love interest of McAvoy’s old college rival, David Simms (Don Johnson), now a very sucessful pro.

In order to prove he is not just a small town flunky to the woman he loves, he sets out to win the U.S. Open, a measure that will require self discipline and smart game tactics, rather than going for the spectacular play—something McAvoy is not used to doing.

Ron Sheldon (director and co-writer) has once again provided a vehicle for Kevin Costner that reminds us of why he is such a star. Tin Cup has been heralded as the “Bull Durham” of golf—and it is. However, this is not a “sports” movie—it’s a boy/girl movie. Romantic comedy at its best. Johnson, cast against type, gives a wonderful portrayal of the guy you love to hate, and Russo is delightful as a funny, quirky champion for the underdog. Cheech Marin proves he is not just “one of those two funny guys” (Cheech and Chong) by lending an excellent supporting role as McAvoy’s sidekick, caddy and confidant Romeo Posar.

From a Christian perspective, all I can say is that if Jesus were here on Earth today, Roy and his friends would be the kind of guys that I think He would have hung out with. The movie itself contains a lot of four letter words, and some scantilly clad dancers in one scene. The love scene between Roy and Molly is fairly tame by Hollywood standards, but may be offensive to some.

In this reviewer’s opinion “Tin Cup” is just a good, romantic, fun movie, with a moral: i.e., if you want to be a success you must excercise self discipline and wisdom, but don’t become so encroached in caution that you miss your miracle.