Movie Review: Mulligans

Steven Spielburg said, “People have forgotten how to tell a story. Stories don't have a middle or an end any more. They usually have a beginning that never stops beginning.” And that is the essence of this review. This movie has no ending, it just sort of…stops. The premise of the story is an interesting one: Dad falls for son’s best friend. And although I have no interest in golf whatsoever, I find the golf metaphor interesting enough. Writer/actor Charlie David even goes so far as to define a mulligan in the opening credits. “A mulligan, in golf, is when a player gets a second chance to perform a certain move or action.” So where is the mulligan? If there is one in this movie, I missed it. This film does have a lot going for it; it’s sexy, well-acted, funny in part and witty at times. The technical aspects are all good to excellent. The situation is plausible enough, although some aspects of the plot are not. For example, Nathan’s wife Stacy seems to go from zero to card-carrying Human Rights Campaigner in less than 60 seconds. It’s not a bad movie. In fact it’s pretty good. It’s just that the whole movie set up expectations of some sort of epiphany, a wake-up call, a second chance and there is none. A pleasant enough movie but nowhere near the audacious tagline “The Graduate for a new generation.” Where’s Steven Spielburg when you need him?