Film review: The Country Club
The early scenes of The Country Club look like the filmmakers might be aiming at a version of Caddyshack as made by Wes Anderson. That’s not at all a bad idea. Unfortunately it’s not where this random comedy goes.
Sisters Fiona and Sophia Robert (who also wrote the film, with Fiona directing) play Elsa and Tina, a pair of Connecticut teens who want to get away from their dead end jobs but can’t afford college tuition. A possible solution comes in the form of an invitation to a golf tournament at a nearby country club, meant for a socialite with the same name as Elsa. Hey, it could happen.
It’s not necessary, or even advisable, to have too much plot in a broad comedy. But from scene to scene The Country Club proceeds so haphazardly that you have to wonder if the Roberts made it all up as they went along. They give up far too much of the movie to John Higgins (who has since gained a position on SNL) as the kind of obnoxious, whiny character that Zach Galifianakis worked to death a decade ago. Among the other poorly sketched characters, only James Urbaniak is able to do anything with his part as the club’s apparently corrupt director. Even a scene about a character with explosive diarrhea fails to get the cheap laughs it aims for. Don’t waste your time.