Film review: Phantom of the Open
Another British comedy about a sporting underdog starring Mark Rylance
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
Thank you for signing up to TheWeek. You will receive a verification email shortly.
There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.
If the story at the heart of this “enjoyable and good-natured” comedy weren’t based on fact, “no one would believe it”, said Deborah Ross in The Spectator. Mark Rylance plays Maurice Flitcroft, the shipyard crane operator from Barrow-in-Furness who “took up golf at 46 after seeing it on the telly” and entered the British Open in 1976. His score of 121 for the first qualifying round was the worst in major championship history; yet he then managed to hoax “his way into further Opens”, much to the fury of the “snobbish” golf establishment. Written by Simon Farnaby, who co-wrote Paddington 2, this is a classic British underdog film in the mould of last month’s The Duke. Although it does “waltz off into Hallmark schmaltz at the end”, there are “delicious moments” along the way, as when Maurice’s wife (Sally Hawkins) lists his handicap as “false teeth and lumbago”, and when a regional news programme invites him to come and putt live in the studio – and he misses every shot.
“Oh God,” you may think – “not another lovable British loser!” And it is true, we’ve been here many times before, said Charlotte O’Sullivan in the London Evening Standard; but the film is “gorgeously acted”, and its slapstick “made me cry with laughter”. I’m afraid it drove me “slightly mad”, said Matthew Bond in The Mail on Sunday. Some films try “just that little bit too hard to make you like them”, and this “undemanding” comedy falls into that trap. It doesn’t help that Rylance seems to have cobbled the role together from parts he’s already played; there’s a good dose of the BFG in the mix, and the finished article is “some sort of Cumbrian Forrest Gump”. Still, this is a funny film that will charm people with an understandable craving for “something lightweight”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.
Sign up to our 10 Things You Need to Know Today newsletter
A free daily digest of the biggest news stories of the day - and the best features from our website
-
Black Atlantic: Power, People, Resistance review
The Week Recommends Fitzwilliam Museum exhibition features lives affected by the Atlantic slave trade
By The Week Staff Published
-
Properties of the week: riverside retreats
The Week Recommends Featuring an enchanting mill house in Hampshire and a converted boathouse in Cornwall
By The Week Staff Published
-
Private Lives review: a 'witty' revival of Noël Coward's classic comedy
The Week Recommends Patricia Hodge and Nigel Havers play the warring exes in this 'delicious retro treat'
By The Week Staff Published
-
Wilderness review: a soapy drama set in the American southwest
The Week Recommends Amazon series starring Jenna Coleman and Oliver Jackson-Cohen is 'full of twists'
By The Week Staff Published
-
Volkswagen ID.5 review: what the car critics say
Feature The ID.4's 'sportier, more stylish twin' – but 'don't believe the hype'
By The Week Staff Published
-
The best sustainable gear
The Week Recommends From a smartwatch and speaker to a laptop and running shoes
By The Week Staff Published
-
Jamaica Inn review: a small patch of Caribbean heaven
The Week Recommends Guests will feel like one of the family at this boutique beach resort in Ocho Rios
By Natasha Langan Published
-
6 exciting homes in college towns
It doesn't hurt to look!
By The Week Staff Published