Diamond in the Rough: Movie Review

Simple, but fun and flirty, funny and fresh.

Gen X-ers have a whole host of 80s movies where a group of poor kids join a ski club and the rich locals harass them until they win a ski competition and save the club. That’s what Diamond in the Rough is for Gen Z, except at a golf club instead. It’s very predictable with a theme that has played out many times before, but it’s still a fast, fun, romp around a golf course.		2022 Directed by: Jeannette Godoy Screenplay by: Grace Church, Crystal Ferreiro, James Sommers Starring: Samantha Boscarino, Griffin Johnson
The main character is Ariana (Samantha Boscarino) – a confident and brash Gen Z trying to enter the work world. There’s an early line which I have to assume came from reality and everybody is going to have to hold their heads in their hands since corporate bosses are not going to welcome the younger generation easily. “Why is there a 2-year gap on your resume?” “Oh, you mean that pandemic that shut down the economy for the last 2 years?”. Oh yeah, that pandemic. It would have been tough going to school during that, it would have been even harder to graduate in June of 2020. And on top of that, Ariana’s parents were killed in a car crash while she was at college. Ariana’s rich boomer uncle who owns a golf club has decided that Ariana doesn’t have emotional intelligence and she needs to join the golf club to learn manners or some such nonsense. This golf club is pristine with beautiful green surroundings. It doesn’t seem to fit the obvious financial trouble that such a club would be in – boomers are dying off, the young generation sees their traditions as archaic, and let’s not forget that pandemic when people stopped paying memberships for social outings. The film takes all the expected routes. Ariana pisses off the few members of her age, she breaks as many rules as she can, but then management sees that Ariana is not as useless as she seems and maybe her ideas for improving the club will actually improve the club. And of course she has a romance with a guy on staff Jason (Griffin Johnson). The romance aspect is handled well – the sparks played up for humorous effect, and it does not get drawn out, although the ending does get wrapped up too neatly. Diamond in the Rough should be a very enjoyable watch for Gen Z. It really speaks to that generation well, much better than any of its outdated predecessors. It’s simple, but fun and flirty, funny and fresh, and very appropriate for the times we currently find ourselves in.