‘Phantom of the Open’ a Crowd-Pleasing True Story

The Summer Film Festival is now in full swing at the Dietrich Theater! And, I found some time to squeeze in one more festival selection to check out - ‘The Phantom of the Open.’

‘Phantom of the Open’ tells the heart-warming true story of Maurice Flitcroft, a dreamer and unrelenting optimist.

This humble crane operator from Barrow-in-Furness managed to gain entry to The British Open Golf Championship qualifying in 1976, despite never playing a round of golf before.

He shot the worst round in Open history and drew the ire of the golfing elite, but became a folk hero in the process and, more importantly, showed his family the importance of pursuing your dreams.

‘Phantom of the Open’ is a sweet, heartfelt little film that is filled with some great humor and is an inspirational true story.

This British independent feature also delivers some great performances from Mark Rylance and Sally Hawkins, who portrays Maurice Flitcroft and his wife Jean Flitcroft respectively. Rylance and Hawkins are great in anything that they appear in. They are truly great together and very humorous at times. The humor in this film can be a little on the quirky side, yet that makes it so much better. And also seeing Maurice Flitcroft playing some terrible golf can be amusing as well - granted I’m not that good at golf either.

This true story also has some emotional and heart-felt moments. The film also shows you that you can never be too old to pursue your dreams and take a chance on something.

So, during the Summer Film Festival, make sure to check out this British comedy-drama. It truly is a hole in one … had to fit in a golf pun somewhere!

The cast: Mark Rylance as Maurice Flitcroft; Sally Hawkins as Jean Flitcroft; Ian Porter as Dick Nelson; Jack Davies as Michael Flitcroft; Christian Lees as Gene Flitcroft; Jonah Lees as James Flitcroft; Mark Lewis Jones as Cliff; Johann Myers as Willie; Nigel Betts as Tony Martin; Afsaneh Dehreouyeh as Josie; Rhys Ifans as Keith Mackenzie and others.

‘The Phantom of the Open’ is written by Simon Farnaby (Paddington 2; the upcoming Disney Plus Original movie ‘Pinocchio’) and directed by Craig Roberts.

This film is also based upon the biography The Phantom of the Open: Maurice Flitcroft, The World’s Worst Golfer,’ by Simon Farnaby and Scott Murray.

‘Phantom of the Open’ is rated PG-13 for some strong language and smoking and has a running time of 106 minutes.

The remaining show dates and times for this film festival selection are as follows: Wednesday July 27 at 7:00 pm and Monday August 1 at 12:00 pm.

If you saw this film during the film festival, let me know what you thought of it through my Facebook page, Wyoming County Press Examiner reviews by Matt Palmer. And also let me know what your favorite film festival selection is from the Summer Film Festival!