PG-13 2023 Sports/Drama 2h 4m
The biggest criteria I have when I’m judging a movie all boil down to my experience. Am I enjoying myself? Am I frequently checking my watch? Am I connecting with the characters on screen? And, for some movies, am I learning something? As such, there are movies that get a lot of acclaim that just don’t do it for me. And some movies that don't get recognition that I do enjoy. I couldn’t have been more bored by The English Patient. I thought the characters in Oppenheimer were too flat. I really enjoyed the book “Killers of the Flower Moon,” but the movie was way too long. Roger Ebert hated Tommy Boy and I think it's a classic. That said, I enjoyed The Boys In the Boat.
The Boys on the Boat is based on a 2013 non-fiction book of the same name by Daniel James Brown that I have not read. The movie is set in late 1930s Great Depression-era Seattle at the University of Washington. Our hero is Joe Rantz (Callum Turner), an engineering student who can’t find a job and will soon be kicked out of school for not being able to pay tuition. Desperate for options, a fellow struggling classmate tells him he heard that if they are able to make the crew team they will get room, board and tuition taken care of. When they show up for tryouts, they find a group of about fifty people who will be competing for eight spots. The competition for the spots is grueling and vaguely reminiscent of the astronaut tryout scenes in The Right Stuff (minus the probing).
Joe and seven others are selected to be the Huskies new 8-man crew team. These rowers may not have money or years of rowing experience like their competitors, but they have heart. And, in a feel-good sports movie, we know it’s better to have heart than money. If the young Huskies are able to beat the Ivy League teams, they will qualify for a chance to race in the 1936 Olympics in Germany. What’s even better than beating a team of rich kids? Beating Nazis! I won’t tell you if they do or not, but I don’t think telling you the outcome of a 90-year old sporting event would count as a spoiler.
With a feel-good sports movie, you can miss out on the suspense of the outcome. You know Seabiscuit is going to win, but the story is strong because of the characters. You imagine the Hoosiers are going to win but what obstacles will they need to overcome to do so? You know Daniel “The Karate Kid” LaRusso and Rocky are going to win their fights but you enjoy their training montages and how they win their fights. The Boys on the Boat falls in to this camp. You are pretty sure they are going to win, but don’t know how. Nicely done, but shy of delivering goosebumps and all of the feels.
George Clooney directs and produces but does not star; his is the biggest name attached to the movie by far. Callum Turner has been in the Harry Potter-adjacent Fantastic Beasts movies. Joel Edgerton (Coach Al Ulbrickson) is an Australian actor with a familiar face that has been in many things but isn’t a household name yet. I think the movie is well served by not having big stars in the roles.
My biggest gripes with the movie come from its direction. The movie is set in the 1930s, but it’s not a grounded 1930s. It’s the 30s of 1930s movies like It's a Wonderful Life's Bedford Falls. The characters are a little too “aw, shucks” and “gee golly” innocent to be fully-formed three dimensional people. An actor playing Hitler is shown at the Olympic races. Instead of being a historical figure, the character is played as a buffoon waiting to be taken down a peg. Perhaps worst are the movie’s bookend scenes where Joe is an old man reflecting on his youth. The dialogue in those scenes is so cheesy, it momentarily took me out of the movie. Paraphrased example: “Grandpa, what was like being part of an eight man team?” “We were never eight. We were always one.” Gag.
So, despite my critiques, I do recommend the movie. I am a sucker for feel-good sports movies. And while this one could have been better, it was still good.
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