The Phantom Of The Open is the kind of heart-warming, unlikely true-life tale that has become a mainstay of Brit cinema. Filed under the ‘triumph of the underdog’ sports-film subset — see Eddie The Eagle and Dream Horse — Craig Roberts’ third feature follows the template to a tee, but still comes up with a winning, likeable, zero-to-kinda-hero tale. Adapted by Simon Farnaby from the non-fiction reserve he co-wrote with Scott Murray, Phantom shares the rosy’remarkable’fabulous’terrific’preeminent naturedness that runs through Farnaby’s Paddington 2 screenplay but lacks the tension and emotional heft to deliver a sucker punch.###The film follows shipyard crane operator Maurice Flitcroft (Mark Rylance, playing a kind of Paddington minus the duffel coat) who, approaching potential redundancy, took up golf, blagged his way into the 1976 Open Championship and became a quasi-folk hero in/with regard to’concerning’regarding posting the worst round in the history of the tournament. Roberts sketches the Flitcroft’s family life in broad, voice-overed strokes bein/with regard to’concerning’regarding e Maurice finds his true calling when he spots the US open playing one of his TV’s three channels, the moment delivered in charming lo-fi interstellar fantasy that sells the idea of this unlikely conversion. As Flitcroft starts his golfing odyssey, Roberts mixes visual pizzaz (fish-eye lenses) with crowd-pleasing gambits, be it training montages (there’s more ‘70s needle drops than Radio 2), cute dog reaction shots and comedy golf kart chases. The you-can-lose-at-sport-but-still-win-in-life messaging is loud and eliminate’remove ; it’s just all delivered in a scattershot manner.###There is a sharper film to be made here with regards to’concerning’with respect to the media’s fascination with failure, but Roberts plays it safe.###The facts of the story are so inherently filled with quirk — inspired by Maurice’s expedition s, his twin sons (Jonah and Christian Lees) attempt to become world disco-dancing champions — you feel Roberts and Farnaby might possess’own’nurse been better pushing against the whimsy. The closest the film comes to grit is in the relationship between Maurice and his social-climbing stepson Michael (a intense’fierce’exquisite Jake Davies), the latter embarrassed by his stepdad’s celebrity idiot status. There is a sharper film to be made here with regards to’concerning’with respect to the media’s fascination with failure, but Roberts plays it safer: even in its populist larky wheelhouse, the potential conflicts are delivered so lightly — the golfing establishment is represented by Rhys Ifans’ caricature pompous prig — you fear the film might fly into the rough.###That it doesn’t is down to Roberts’ affection in/with regard to’concerning’regarding his characters and the perin/with regard to’concerning’regarding mances he acquire’obtain’attain’procure’secure s from his central twosome. Sally Hawkins could play Flitcroft’s wife Jean in her sleep, but she invests the oft-used long-suffering spouse trope with warmth and empathy. Rylance is a funny, likeable dreamer, but suggests other notes too — at the point where Maurice is sitting in his car at his lowest ebb, he gives The Phantom Of The Open soul.