The British film “The Phantom of the Open,” directed by actor Craig Roberts, is not only “twee.” It’s twee with a tee. The phantom in question is real-life Maurice Flitcroft (Mark Rylance, sporting flaring eyebrows), a crane driver from Barrow-in-Furness, who marries a single mother named Jean (Sally Hawkins). They raise three sons, and in the mid-1970s, just about the time their oldest son, Michael (Jake Davies), is starting out in the executive offices at the shipyard where his father works and the younger twins are embarking on a not-entirely-brilliant career as disco dancers, Maurice decides to compete in the British Open, even though he has never swung a golf club.
You see, Maurice is one of those people who believe you must follow your dreams. Or as Oscar Wilde put it, “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” While working-class men from Barrow-in-Furness are often referred to as “shipyard fodder” because that is the only work they can get, Maurice has other plans as well. Becoming a great golfer is one of them.
The Phantom of the Open” takes its name from a headline about Maurice in a British newspaper. Get ready to hear all those disco hits you’d hoped never to have to listen to again.
Maurice applies to the 1975 British Open as a player and is surprisingly accepted. After taking a few swings at a few balls on the beach and accepting nicked attire from his shady friend and co-worker Cliff (Mark Lewis Jones), he figures he’s ready to hit the links. When Cliff tells Maurice that he once did a “bank job,” Maurice thinks Cliff means he worked at a bank.
Full disclosure: One of my very first jobs was as an incompetent caddie.
When the British Open overseer and secretary of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews Keith Mackenzie (Rhys Ifans) hears that Maurice has shot in the mid-60s after the first nine holes, he flies into a rage and tries to shame Maurice and get him to drop out. But there’s no stopping Maurice’s belief in himself, even if it is totally unfounded.
Moreover, the truth of the matter is that the crazy Brit golfer, whose motto is “Practice is the road to perfection,” becomes a better player over the years and an inspiration to many similarly misguided, but nevertheless determined golf enthusiasts all over the world. To them, Maurice, who reapplies to play in additional British Opens using various aliases, is a folk hero.
“The Phantom of the Open” has a lot in common with the somewhat better current British release “The Duke,” about an English idealist who steals a painting from the National Portrait Gallery, with Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren. Rylance and Hawkins make a very fine couple. But they are swinging at beach balls, not golf balls in “The Phantom of the Open.”
The screenplay by Simon Farnaby, who created the original British version of the current hit TV series “Ghosts,” is a bit too treacly and predictable and at times lands in the rough, if not the water hazard. Like Maurice, “The Phantom of the Open” makes a mess of the putts.
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‘THE PHANTOM OF THE OPEN’
Grade B+
MPAA rating: PG-13 (for some strong language and smoking)
Running time: 1:46
How to watch: Now in theaters
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