The underdog sports drama is an inspirational but essentially results-oriented film genre. No matter how hopeless the aspiring athlete(s) at the outset of proceedings, the story brings them, at the very least, to the brink of victory: talent is prized and rewarded. The Phantom of the Open (out now on multiple VOD platforms), however, is a pleasing exception to the formula – a sporting biopic in which the improbable hero’s outright crapness at his inexplicably chosen game is not just frankly stated but actively celebrated.
A middle-aged shipyard worker who blagged his way into golf’s 1976 Open Championship and proceeded to shoot the worst score on record, Maurice Flitcroft entered history mostly as a tabloid amusement. Buoyed up by a performance of twinkly good humour, with just an edge of yearning sadness, from Mark Rylance, Craig Roberts’s cheery film turns Flitcroft from punchline to paladin – a sportsman whose defiant lack of gifts dealt a symbolic blow to golf’s stuffy, wealthy gatekeepers. There’s perhaps a sharper satire to be made from his story, but The Phantom of the Open sticks throughout to a jaunty, feelgood agenda. It’s just a film that encourages us to feel good about losing egregiously.
