Some say that a little bit is better than nada. But sometimes you want the whole enchilada. That’s a good way to describe this movie. This might be the best golf movie ever made. If it isn’t at the top spot, it’s definitely up there at #2 or #3. I love the character of Tin Cup, because he is relatable in a lot of ways. He’s a true underdog with the skillset of a champion; and a gambling addiction. He’s a house of cards waiting to topple. And yet, it’s in that chaotic storm of charisma and charm that we get to see him shine like a dying star on a blank night.
This movie circulates around lovable down-on-his-luck driving range pro, Roy McAvoy. Roy “Tin Cup” McAvoy (Kevin Costner) used to be a golf prodigy with a bright future ahead of him. But he could never really conquer his personal demons on the course, often causing him to rebel or lash out, which ultimately cost him almost everything. Now, he owns an armadillo infested driving range in a small town in West Texas. Tin Cup is usually surrounded by his degenerate gambler friends (primarily Romeo) [Cheech Martin], who don’t even need a reason to make bets with one another. After psychologist Dr. Molly Griswold (Rene Russo) comes for a golf lesson, McAvoy is immediately smitten with her. Little does Tin Cup know that she is dating his biggest rival from his competitive golf days; top pro golfer David Simms (Don Johnson).
Later the next day, Simms stops by the driving range looking for Tin Cup. Simms is seeking out McAvoy, because of a charity golf tournament he is hosting. Tin Cup assumes the invitation is to play, but Simms cruelly lets him know he doesn’t want him to play, he wants him to caddie. Because of his financial issues, him and Romeo agree to caddie. During the round, both Simms and McAvoy start an argument about how to play a certain shot. Tin Cup thinks that if you can pull off the shot, you should try, where Simms wants to play the percentages. After Simms “lays up” and takes the dangerous shot out of play, Tin Cup ultimately agrees to a bet with other pro golfers about whether or not he could pull of the shot. He does, and gets fired by Simms immediately. This causes McAvoy to take the golf bag and parade around with it, dumping out all the clubs in the process. Later, Tin Cup decides that in order to get back at Simms, he needs to the US Open (golf major). He and Romeo agree that if he does this, Dr. Griswold might be swayed to leave David Simms for him.
But how on earth is Roy gonna win the US Open when he pawned off his golf clubs earlier the film to settle a bet? I’m glad you asked. It’s because Boone was being profound.
The fact that this scene is less than a couple minutes is so disheartening. The guy takes a plethora of household/garden tools and goes out like nothing is different. It’s incredible. And all while it’s going on, Bruce Hornsby’s ballet about life is pumping through the speakers. It’s bliss, plain and simple. But it was only one hole. It sucks that we only get to see him play one hole like that. They could’ve done an extra couple minutes. You can do a lot with an extra three minutes. It was just awesome to see someone play golf like this and actually succeed. I don’t care how realistic it is (probably not harder than actual golf realistically). It’s so much fun to watch. The best part is Boone is losing to a guy without clubs! You know how embarrassing that would be? This guy has actual real functional (probably expensive) golf clubs and is getting beat at golf by a guy without any of those things. That’s like losing at ping pong, but the other guy is using a sprite bottle instead of a ping pong paddle. How bad do you have to be? Then you think about the fact that this guy already lost his Winnebago in a bet against Tin Cup, and thinks start to make sense. He’s a dunce. But after Tin Cup wins, he has the money to get his clubs back from the pawn shop. The mythic quest for the US Open is back on!
Molly lets Roy know that even if he does qualify, she’s still with David and that won’t change. But this is all apart of the quest. Win the girl, then win the war. But it seems like no matter what negative thing anyone tells Molly about David’s true nature, it falls on deaf ears. She won’t stand for it. I know love blinds people, but A) they weren’t in love and B) if every single person is telling you this they might actually be on to something. But she’s gonna have to learn the hard way. I feel like a lot of people can relate to this. The person you like is with someone, but that person is actually a dirtbag, and they just don’t know it yet, but everyone else does know it. It sucks. And no matter what you say, they’ll think it’s just because “they’re jealous” or “our love scares people” or something along those lines. This is not different. Molly just has to learn the hard way.
In the first round of qualifying, Tin Cup and Romeo get into it, causing a big rift between the two. When it’s all said and done, Roy only has one club left in his bag that isn’t broken, and Romeo is no longer his caddie. But as he does, Tin Cup finished the round with only a 7-iron, shooting even par on the back nine holes. He was already on fire before that happens, which makes it even better. It feels like this guy could do just about anything if the odds stacked against him were high enough. I personally love watching his US Open qualifying rounds, because they’re just that; qualifying rounds. He hasn’t even gotten the US Open yet, and everything seems to be on a fuse, waiting to go off a moment’s notice. It makes for a hilarious series of events. But you can only imagine that if this is what’s happening now, what’s gonna happen when this guy is facing some of the hardest conditions in golf? On one of the biggest spotlights? Against the best competition in the world? **Spoiler alert** Tin Cup does qualify for the US Open, and now it’s really on.
After the first round ends. Molly sees Simms for who is truly is (a dirtbag) and cuts that chord. Boom. Now Roy’s got the girl. And she got there just in time, because he opened the tournament with an abysmal 83 and wants no part of this championship anymore. And here she comes, providing the spark he needs. How many of us are like that? You find that one person that gets you up when you’re down and restores hope after you’ve lost it. It’s special to say the least. And now that we won the girl, he can go win the war.
What I really love about this move (besides the hilariousness) is that it shows a great depiction of people that actually feel the need to “rise to the challenge” all the time. They don’t usually go out on top; they tend go out in a blaze of glory. Tin Cup is the latter, and oh how glorious it was. This is a true underdog story. Most of the time, the underdog doesn’t typically win. They do sometimes, and that’s when we hear about it. This is not one of those times. After three days of golf, Tin Cup is within striking distance of Simms’ lead, and he’s riding a lot of momentum. He’s this out-of-nowhere, average guy from Texas that is competing with the best golfers on the planet, and he’s doing a fine job. All signs point to his incredible, once in a lifetime victory that will shake the golf world forever. But instead we get one of the greatest self-destruction sequences of all-time, sports or non-sports. Don’t forget, he was always a house of cards waiting to fall. It was only a matter of time. It just happened to happen on the 72nd hole of a 72-hole (four day) tournament. Sometimes we get in our own way of succeeding, and sometimes we get in our own way of succeeding all the tine. You get too caught up in the moment, and the moment defines you, instead of you defining it. It happens a lot more often than we’d like to admit. It sucks when it happens, but you just have to weather the storm, and try to move on.
This movie is incredibly hilarious, but it goes beyond that. It tells the story of a harsh reality that a lot of us know; failure. Failure is shown in this film in many different ways, through many different lenses. It’s something that we have to conquer, in order to succeed. But the comedic value of this movie shouldn’t be understated. It’s the funniest golf movie there is. Yes the funniest. Caddyshack and Happy Gilmore are funny, but Tin Cup is next level funny. I also think it offers a very real picture of what a struggling golfer’s life is like. It isn’t pleasant, or glamorous. It’s stress-inducing and painful most of the time. Not so much physical pain; mainly emotional, mental and fiscal pain. This movie does so many things right. I don’t really care what anyone says about Tin Cup, this movie is a 92/100 any day of the week.
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