Tin Cup

Roy 'Tin Cup' McAvoy (Costner) is a natural born swinger. Such a natural, in fact, that his golf sense by-passes his brain altogether. That's why he's marooned in Salome, West Texas, living out of a trailer, picking up chump change teaching follow-through to golf virgins like psychologist Molly Griswold (Russo). Molly makes Roy want to get his act together, especially when he sees she's with PGA star David Simms (Johnson). Thus, Tin Cup embarks on a quixotic tilt at the American Open and a belated date with destiny. After the perceived failure of the ambitious Cobb, Ron Shelton has come up with a light, relaxed return to the popular romanticism of his Bull Durham. The sexual sparring is a bit lop-sided, Molly is too much of an onlooker, especially during the prolonged final tournament, but Shelton never indulges Roy's own delusions of tragic grandeur: there's a kind of poetry in his bullshit. This is a wish-fulfilment movie about failure, and Roy's triumph is bitter-sweet indeed. Costner hasn't been this charming and spontaneous for years.