Common Sense Media Review
By Barbara Shulgasser-Parker
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Talented golfer refuses to play it safe; language, sex.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 15+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Tin Cup
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
In TIN CUP, Roy (Kevin Costner) is a cocky driving range golf pro with a failing business and heavy debts. With his decades-old reputation as a great college player, he gives the occasional lesson. But mostly he drinks, has shaky relationships with nude dancers, and makes bets that he can do outrageous things with a golf ball. He is the opposite of a professional touring pro, competitors who are usually disciplined students of a maddening game that requires thoughtful assessments of best shots at every one of a tournament's 18 holes. His college partner David (Don Johnson) is smarmy and polished and seems to have figured out how to negotiate the pro tour. He returns to Roy's life to ask him to help him win a tournament as his caddy. Roy needs the money and agrees. Yet he ruins his opportunity and gets fired. He then decides to steal David's girlfriend Molly (Rene Russo) and qualify for the US Open. Will he succeed?
Is It Any Good?
Irresponsible and smug are not a good combination. Tin Cup strains to convince us that they are. It fails. The point of this tiresome and overlong 135-minute movie seems to be to persuade us that fatal character flaws are actually to be celebrated. While, in principle, embracing our flaws may be charitable and even make life easier, celebrating them seems a step too far. Roy is a man whose current situation—dire financial straits, unsatisfying emotional life, reliance on alcohol—looks no better than his future prospects because he keeps engaging in the same destructive behaviors but expects a different outcome. Some say that is the definition of insanity.
In this fantasy, he's a highly articulate, smooth-talking BS-promoting hustler. We are supposed to believe he could attract the love of a good woman who has played it too safe all her life. Throw in that she's dating a terrible person, and Ray, who is supposed to be charming, seems like a great alternative, "seems" being the operative word. Director and writer Ron Shelton, who also wrote the baseball movie Bull Durham, pulls out his tired trope—a washed-up athlete who "loves" the game so much he waxes philosophical about it endlessly. If Roy's life tells us anything, it's that his way of doing things has not worked well for him.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about Roy as a character. Is he likable? Does it matter if he is?
If you could update this '90s film, what would you do to improve it?
Roy refuses to give up on executing difficult shots that are more likely to cause trouble than yield a benefit. Do you think that demonstrates strength of character or a flaw? Why?
Movie Details
- In theaters : August 16, 1996
- On DVD or streaming : December 12, 1997
- Cast : Kevin Costner , Rene Russo , Don Johnson
- Director : Ron Shelton
- Studio : Warner Bros.
- Genre : Comedy
- Run time : 135 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- MPAA explanation : language and brief nudity
- Last updated : July 10, 2025
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