Film Review: Phantom of the Open is a comedy hole-in-one

A celebration of the plucky underdog - and the feelgood movie we need right now

The Phantom of the Open: a charming, feelgood round of golf comedy

★★★★☆

A keen golfer himself, PG Wodehouse published scores of golf stories that had little to do with the sport itself, but instead focused on the delusions of the wide-eyed optimists who devoted themselves to the ‘pestilential pastime’. The Phantom of the Open (12A) is based on a true story, but Maurice Flitcroft (Mark Rylance) could have stepped from a Wodehouse story: made redundant from his job as a crane operator in 1975, Maurice took up golf with the ambition of qualifying for the British Open in the following year, during the course of which he shot a round of +49, the worst score in the history of Major golf.

The point, of course, is not that Maurice is utterly hopeless: adapted by Simon Farnaby from Scott Murray’s book, with Craig Roberts directing, The Phantom of the Open is a story about grit, determination and never, ever giving up. There’s a quixotic quality to Maurice that is given full justice by Mark Rylance, who plays the ‘intrepid hacker’ as an unassuming, working-class hero: self-educated from a young age, Maurice decides there’s no reason why he shouldn’t teach himself golf as well. The fact that he doesn’t belong to any golf club, or to the class that tends to play golf, is just one more obstacle to overcome, and soon his nemesis hoves into view: the smarmy Keith Mackenzie (Rhys Ifans) of the Royal & Ancient, who believes that Maurice is making the British Open look ridiculous.

Sally Hawkins, meanwhile, provides strong support as Maurice’s wife Jean, who backs her husband all the way in his impossible dream. A celebration of the plucky underdog, The Phantom of the Open is the feelgood movie we need right now.

(cinema release)