Mark Twain famously called golf “a good walk spoiled.” What would he have thought of miniature golf?
As someone with absolutely zero hand-eye coordination, even I can sometimes manage to get a ball through the one of those windmills. Clearly, this is no sport for any real “athlete” over 12. Which is probably why, according to this sports mockumentrary, Chris Elliott – smarting after the twin disasters of “Cabin Boy” and “Cabin Boy II” – was able to become the Tiger Woods of mini-golf.
Sportscaster Bob Costas tells us in his trademark heroic style of the discipline and control from which Elliott derives his greatness. Meanwhile, between acts of cruelty to small children, Elliott himself informs us himself of the daunting realities of the sport (“I’d like to see Nicklaus sink a birdie with a pirate ship staring him down!”) We also encounter Elliott’s golfing nemesis, slimy TV personality Maury Povich. Do the affections of spouse Connie Chung hang in the balance? Only time will tell.
Written and directed by Mark Feldstein and Brad Roth, “The Swinger” is a well made, if not quite riotously funny, showcase for Chris Elliott. The son of one half of “Bob and Ray,” possibly the greatest cult-comedy team of all time, Elliott has twisted humor flowing through his every vein. “The Swinger” is too one-joke, even for it’s extremely brief running time, but no one makes vile smarm funnier than Chris Elliott.
