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The Country Club
Oct. 15th, 2022 08:10 amI got suckered into The Country Club because the filmmakers, sisters Fiona and Sophia Robert, are from Indiana, and admittedly because the premise “two resourceful teenage girls hatch a plan to win the prize money of a junior golf tournament at a prestigious Hamptons country club” where they meet the “quirky, wealthy patrons” sounded like fun.
Well, actually, it was fun, sometimes. It was definitely an experience! At no point did I have any idea what might happen next! I am not sorry that I saw it but I also could not call it good.
I think the main problem is that the quirky, wealthy patrons are so quirky that they cease to feel like real people: our resourceful heroines (who are charming - the best part of the film) seem to be moving through a landscape of caricatures.
Also, the film feels uncertain what it’s trying to accomplish. At times it feels like a satire (the country club advertisement: “You have money, so you MATTER!”), but it’s too scattershot to ever really come to a pointed critique of, say, inherited wealth and privilege, or the tendency of the rich to segregate themselves in enclaves like country clubs. Other times it seems like it’s aiming for simple comedy.
And sometimes it’s just not clear what tone it’s going for. The scene where golf rivals Northfield and Kowalski admit their love in the locker room after the tournament is over is surely meant to be funny (Northfield’s caddy Gunther starts singing a Scotch ballad, for God’s sake), but is it supposed to be funny in an emotionally meaningful way or a point-and-laugh one?
Also, there’s a lot of bathroom humor. I get that some people are into that, but I personally felt that the squelchy sounds were simply a bit much.
Well, actually, it was fun, sometimes. It was definitely an experience! At no point did I have any idea what might happen next! I am not sorry that I saw it but I also could not call it good.
I think the main problem is that the quirky, wealthy patrons are so quirky that they cease to feel like real people: our resourceful heroines (who are charming - the best part of the film) seem to be moving through a landscape of caricatures.
Also, the film feels uncertain what it’s trying to accomplish. At times it feels like a satire (the country club advertisement: “You have money, so you MATTER!”), but it’s too scattershot to ever really come to a pointed critique of, say, inherited wealth and privilege, or the tendency of the rich to segregate themselves in enclaves like country clubs. Other times it seems like it’s aiming for simple comedy.
And sometimes it’s just not clear what tone it’s going for. The scene where golf rivals Northfield and Kowalski admit their love in the locker room after the tournament is over is surely meant to be funny (Northfield’s caddy Gunther starts singing a Scotch ballad, for God’s sake), but is it supposed to be funny in an emotionally meaningful way or a point-and-laugh one?
Also, there’s a lot of bathroom humor. I get that some people are into that, but I personally felt that the squelchy sounds were simply a bit much.
