Fairways to Happiness (2022)

Content by Tony Macklin. Originally published on January 14, 2023 @ tonymacklin.net.

Fairways to Happiness is a documentary that starts with promise.

It begins focusing on a golfer who wants to break 80. It could appeal to many average golfers.

But the music seems like it is golf in an elevator.

The golfer - director Doug Morrione - moves with his bride to Dubai, and his film becomes a shameless, avid commercial for Dubai. But it doesn't stop there. It then becomes a study of glib pontificators of "happiness." One "expert" would be enough, but we get a slew of them.

Education becomes a journey to "wellness." Yikes.

A cynic is a failed idealist. I admit I went on that journey. Happy for me is one of the Seven Dwarfs.

In Morrione's film, one of the speakers says, "I don't want to sound too cliche, but it's really hard not to." One says, "I'm kind of a fan of cheating." OK. Another talks about "embedding well-being science into school."

A woman in Vienna says, "Love actually is amazing."

If only they had stayed on the golf course. The film wouldn't be such a bogey.