Celebrities larking about on trip-of-a-lifetime travel shows are all the rage. Eugene Levy’s The Reluctant Traveler (Apple TV) is one example, Conan O’Brien Must Go (HBO Max/Crave) is another. Stanley Tucci, Eva Longoria, and others have gotten into the act.
New to the genre is Bill Murray, who eventually invites two of his brothers and others along on A Course Called Ireland (streaming now on one of our sponsors here at brioux.tv, Paramount+).
This series was based on a book: Tom Coyne’s 2010 diary of the same name. Subtitled, “A long walk in search of a Country, a pint and the next tee,” it chronicles his 16-week, 1,118 mile trek on foot around the coast of Ireland where he played every sea-side course he encountered.
Bill Murray himself wrote a review of the original book: “There is no golf trip like an Irish golf trip, and Tom Coyne has risen to meet that road. I look forward to reading this again. Pack it with your sticks.”
Which he does for this six-episode series. Murray revisits six of the courses with Coyne. This is, however, more of a VIP trip, with the pair enjoying comfy rides in SUV’s between tee times. We do get incredible drone shots of all of these spectacular and often hill-y courses, most thrust right out into the surrounding sea.
The series tries hard to convince you that this is not a series about Bill Murray. Murray, who veers between his charismatic and his disgruntled self, does try to duck the spotlight. As Coyne, who narrates the sixth and final half-hour says, Murray will “derail your plans. He’ll also remind you why you made them in the first place.”
advertisement
There are golf shots good and bad on this series, but mainly it is about the local folks this duo (which grows to an ensemble) meet along the way. The series tries a unique little setup, getting a different local person to narrate each episode. A lady named Margaret from County Cork goes first, and she is charming and tolerant and Murray gives her a hug. A local Irish comedian, Joanne McNally, narrates another chapter. The format fades in and out over the six episodes, but adds charm in spots.
Another Irish ex-pat, Chris O’Dowd, joins Murray and Coyne in Episodes 2 and 3. Who wouldn’t want to share a golf cart with likeable O’Dowd and Murray, right? These guys hit the pubs, go for ice cream, throw rocks down a road, and shop for hand-woven Irish hats and vests. They take a side trip to visit a mother ands daughter who took Coyne in on his original journey 15 years earlier.
Every few feet you see Murray posing for photo ops, having somewhat come to terms with his half century of fame. It happens on a ferry, in the rain, on the course. It is, as Coyne notes, “Groundhog Day” come to life, a ritual repeated over-and-over, every damn day.
At one point it gets too much for Murray, who snaps at the director, sleeps in, goes rogue and clearly, like Garbo, wants to be alone. “Fame isn’t what you expect it to be,” he says.
In other scenes he is generous to all the crew, pulling Coyne into a sideline interview at an NFL game in Dublin (the first ever in Ireland) and generally being that world’s greatest wedding crasher we’ve all read about.
“He loves giving people a moment,” Coyne observes. “He just couldn’t stand manufacturing [that moment].”
And let us give him credit. Murray knows best. He’s walking with a caddy who tells a story about a lighthouse and Murray orders the camera guy tailing them to swing around and zoom in to the point of the story. You get that he’s not along for this ride if the authentic moments fail to become the focus.
By episode 5 and 6 Murray is joined by two of his brothers, Joel and Johnny. Over pints at a local bar, they shed a bit more light on their superstar older brother, their tight family of nine siblings, the lean early times in Chicago. Retired NFLer Jason Kelce makes a cameo towards the end.
Do we ultimately learn more about Ireland, Murray or golf than we knew going in? Cliches abound, but thrown all together this is at least a scenic selfie of the artist at 75. Coyne the wordsmith sums it all up in the end.
“I’ve known Bill a long time,” he says, “and I thought I knew Ireland. Funny how putting them both together made me see things new in them both.”
