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Seven Days in Utopia

Written by Jonathan Jacobs

Seven Days in Utopia is the feel good movie of the fall. Protagonist and Executive Producer Lucas Black has made a statement and it reads "My name is Lucas Black and I am becoming a great actor", or some such approximation. His performance as amateur golfer Luke Chisolm is not only a resume builder, it is a crowd pleaser on a typically forgettable back to school movie weekend. To add a counterpart with notability and gravitas, Mr. Black chose the sensational Robert Duvall to play his onscreen mentor and muse, Johnny Crawford. They are not Harrison Ford and Shia LaBeouf to be sure, but this is because they are something much different and much less antagonizing. Sit back and enjoy the drive, get it? Drive!

As the film begins so do Luke's flashbacks. He is traveling in a rented Chevy with no particular direction in mind. Fresh off a nuclear meltdown on the 18th hole, Luke is emotionally vulnerable inside and furious on the outside. On the cusp of winning a PGA Tour qualifying tournament with a brilliant score (65), Luke tortures himself by following his caddy's advice about which clubs to select at critical moments. Ironically, his bagman is none other than his father and lifelong golf coach, Martin Chisolm (Joseph Martin Taylor).

Throughout the film audiences are privy to Luke's childhood, teenage and adult memories of his father's mixture of encouragement and berating. Mr. Chisolm is a tough as nails coach that will not accept defeat or second place for his son. What Luke wants is a separate question entirely. Not only did Martin force bad advice (to be aggressive instead of "playing it safe") at the most inopportune of times, after Luke failed to win (an understatement as he embarrassed himself on national television) Martin abandoned him. Shortly thereafter we find Luke at a literal and metaphorical crossroads (this film is replete with enough metaphors to make any poetry or philosophy professor happy for months). Serendipitously, Luke chooses to veer toward Utopia, population 373-375. In other words, Utopia is an isolated small ranching town off the beaten path. Robert Frost would have a field day with this one.

Once in Utopia Luke nearly crashes into a steer casually roaming in the middle of the road. Instead of pummeling into the roast beef, our wayward golfer crashes into rancher Johnny Crawford's fence and totals his Chevy. Quick side note: Seven Days in Utopia nearly pays for itself on account of its sponsors (Chevrolet, Nike, Calloway, etc.). Crawford comes to the rescue as Luke is leaning against his car bloodied (in more ways than one) and beaten. So begins the mentorship the aspiring golfer has always needed and in many ways always wanted. Crawford himself is a former golfer who stumbled when on the verge of achieving greatness. He obviously settled for greener pastures (these jokes are not intended to be vexatious, they are a representation of my interpretation of Luke Chisolm's humor in the movie).

Mr. Crawford teaches Luke to be more social, calm, and collected. He encourages him to paint a golf green and to illustrate how his chip shot would fall straight into the cup. To his credit, Lucas Black appears to have a professional caliber golf swing. The PGA tour courteously lent out the oft leaderboarding K.J. Choi to serve as his foil. Most importantly, Luke learns to have patience, only in his own hilarious way while fly fishing. Perhaps most important of all, he becomes less inaccessible when he finds a way to befriend an antagonizing trio local yokels. In Utopia, of course, Luke also finds romance with a kindred spirit, Maggie Swanson (Sarah Jayne Jensen). Maggie is well-traveled, has a heart of gold and inside of it is a place for a broken spirit.

It is critical not to underestimate, or even misunderestimate (this has become a dictionary word since former President George W. Bush brought it to life) Seven Days in Utopia. Although it does not have a studio budget to enhance many of the images, it nevertheless is a beautiful and original film. There is significant character growth and the actors seem to work well together, despite their often painfully thick Southern twang/accents. Many young actors such as Lucas Black struggle to become mainstream stars. Often talent is overlooked for a number of reasons, but this did not discourage Mr. Black, it inspired him to take his own route to success. Make no mistake about it, Seven Days in Utopia is his stepping stone to bigger and better roles. This movie is calming and best of all, enjoyable.