Fun, good-natured and schmaltzy: Phantom Of The Open reviewed

A British underdog comedy-drama about the world's worst golfer with lovely, warm, affectionate performances from Mark Rylance and Sally Hawkins.

Mark Rylance is a golfing imposter in feelgood comedy The Phantom Of The Open

Charming film tells the true story of an eccentric amateur who passed himself off as a pro.

The Phantom Of The Open review

Thankfully, The Phantom is a one-off, like Maurice himself.

The Phantom Of The Open review - a Britcom with bite

Imagine the Eddie The Eagle movie, only with golfing as the backdrop instead of ski jumping. And then imagine the Oscar-winner Mark Rylance in the lead role, delivering another one of those extraordinarily idiosyncratic turns, a performance of tiny gestures, pauses, sighs and grimaces that somehow coalesces into a sympathetic marvel.

The Phantom Of The Open is a very British tribute to failure

Mark Rylance is charming as the golf hoaxer Maurice Flitcroft, but there's not quite enough here to sustain a feature.

The Phantom Of The Open review

Mark Rylance plays an average joe flung into the spotlight in Craig Roberts' good-natured but bland comedy.

The Phantom Of The Open review

Mark Rylance scores again in an amiable golf-centric comedy that mostly manages to stay out of the rough.

Inspired by the true story of Maurice Flitcroft, the British amateur golfer who managed to enter the Open after taking up the sport on whim, The Phantom Of The Open is another of those loveable-loser sagas that have become a tiresome staple of British comedies. Playing Flitcroft as a kind of Forrest Gump-style simpleton who has selflessly deferred his dreams for the sake of his family, Mark Rylance goes for cuddly but veers into condescension while director Craig Roberts overdoes the quirk factor by equating Flitcroft's sudden golfing obsession with some kind of goofy religious awakening. Sally Hawkins and Rhys Ifans co-star.

Phantom Of The Open review

What The Phantom Of The Open lacks in ambition or dramatic oomph, it makes up for in easy-going appeal. Anchored by an impish Mark Rylance, it takes its cue from the story's hero: a bit ramshackle, very amiable, always watchable.

The Phantom Of The Open review

As fuzzy and reassuring as a multi-coloured Pringle sweater-vest, The Phantom Of The Open is an old-fashioned crowd-pleaser. Based on a true story, it stars Mark Rylance as Maurice Flitcroft, a Barrow-in-Furness crane-operator turned novice golfer, who - on multiple occasions - blagged his way into the British Open.