The Squeeze (2015)
Cast: Jeremy Sumpter, Jason Dohring, Katherine LaNasa
Director: Terry Jastrow
Country: USA
Genre: Comedy | Drama | Sport
Editor’s Note: The Squeeze is out in limited release today, April 17th.
Golf prodigy and incurable hayseed Augie (Jeremy Sumpter) is just hanging around his small Southern town, playing cross-country golf and throwing coins on porches, when a flashy professional gambler known only as Riverboat (Christopher McDonald) wanders into his life. Riverboat sizes Augie up and senses a fine hustling opportunity. With the help of his lady friend Jessie (Katherine LaNasa) and a stack of hundred dollar bills, Riverboat convinces Augie to join in his schemes, but Augie’s girlfriend Natalie (Jillian Murray) is sure that this is all a one-way ticket to Hell.
From angry golfers breaking their clubs over their knees to mirrors on motel room ceilings, the clichés come at you so fast you can’t dodge them.
The first feature film by long-time sports director Terry Jastrow, The Squeeze means to be a light-hearted comedy-drama with a distinctly Christian feel. Instead, it’s an amateurish and dull affair hindered by poorly written characters and awful performances by the two young leads. Augie is so thinly drawn he might as well not exist, while Natalie is little more than a checklist of sexist stereotypes. She’s snotty, irritable, and apparently too dim to know how to use a paintbrush. She’s also more than happy to objectify herself; when she’s not firing off clichés about the road to Hell, she’s wearing the shortest skirts that won’t get her arrested, stripping down to her sports bra in public, and using pastel pink golf balls when she plays. You know, to remind herself that she’s a girl.
As if to prove that characters saddled with rotten dialogue can still be compelling, LaNasa and McDonald are fun, lively, and professionals who know how to play the broadly written characters that are the staples of cinematic allegory. They’re responsible for the best moments of the film, including a scene where McDonald and character great Michael Nouri, as high-roller Jimmy Diamonds, spar over a poker match. Every scripted word is banal, but they’re solid professionals, and they make it work.
The Squeeze, despite obvious product placement for two large Las Vegas hotels, is a fine-looking film. Jastrow’s work in producing and directing sports events is noticeable here, and the scenes shot on golf courses look exactly as one would expect them to look if watching the U.S. Open on television. It’s sure to impress golf fans, but even non-fans will find these showdowns on the green interesting, thanks to some solid editing.
The Squeeze, despite obvious product placement for two large Las Vegas hotels, is a fine-looking film. Jastrow’s work in producing and directing sports events is noticeable here …
Allegedly based on the early life of Las Vegas golf pro Keith Flatt, nothing about the plot of The Squeeze is believable on any level, and that includes Augie’s small-town cluelessness. He’s not from an urban area, certainly, but his town has internet, and cable, and theaters, and human beings who travel to other towns and come back with stories of the big wild world beyond their humble borders. Yet Augie is so hapless he might as well be the stereotypical rural farmer in a silent movie who steps into the big city, sees one flapper and falls immediately into the hands of Satan.
From angry golfers breaking their clubs over their knees to mirrors on motel room ceilings, the clichés come at you so fast you can’t dodge them. This is most apparent in the first half when The Squeeze is still trying to fit the faith-based movie mold. Every note is hit too hard: Riverboat steals from the collection plate, the climactic competition is held in Sin City, and every bad guy in the film is referred to as “the devil” at least once. Because The Squeeze is cartoonish and strenuously cynical, this morality tale goes haywire in the finale, when everyone suddenly shrugs off the same ethical convictions that had provided their sole source of motivation. It’s part of the film’s attempt to court both Christian moviegoers and those looking for more secular fare, and is sure to offend audiences rather than attract them.
The first feature film by long-time sports director Terry Jastrow, The Squeeze means to be a light-hearted comedy-drama with a distinctly Christian feel. Instead, it's an amateurish and dull affair hindered by poorly written characters and awful performances by the two young leads.
