The Boys in the Boat, 2023.
Directed by George Clooney.
Starring Callum Turner, Joel Edgerton, Jack Mulhern, Sam Strike, Luke Slattery, Thomas Elms, Tom Varey, Bruce Herbelin-Earle, Wil Coban, Hadley Robinson, Chris Diamantopoulos, James Wolk, Courtney Henggeler, Alec Newman, Peter Guinness, Laurel Lefkow, Sam Douglas, Jaymes Butler, Chris Wilson, Jacob James Beswick, Joel Phillimore, Glenn Wrage, and Edward Baker-Duly.
SYNOPSIS:
A 1930s-set story centered on the University of Washington’s rowing team, from their Depression-era beginnings to winning gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.
Homing in on a 1930s junior varsity underdog rowing team from Seattle, Washington, that would go on to compete in the Berlin Olympics, it’s a struggle to assess why exactly director George Clooney (based on the book by Daniel James Brown, adapted by Daniel James Brown) felt the story of The Boys in the Boat was so important to tell and would translate to anything other than flat, sentimental slop. The film is corny from its opening seconds, showing an elderly Joe Rantz (a dull Callum Turner not given much to work with) boating, prompting some reminiscing back to that unlikely year when he went from a college student looking to get on the team to pay tuition, finding himself a part of something much bigger competing for an Olympic medal.
That already sounds much more interesting than the movie actually is. Beyond putting a budget to good use re-creating the Depression era, college, the rowing scene, and the Berlin Olympics with detailed production design, costumes, and actors certainly sounding the part, the narrative here is rather uneventful. When something does happen, it’s clichéd and never amounts to anything compelling.
As such, it is difficult to understand why the film (and presumably the novel) thinks Joe is the best vessel for telling this story; he is an orphan with some baggage, starts a relationship with a woman (Hadley Robinson) he had a crush on during fourth grade (she even has the cute card he made her because this film never misses an opportunity to do something painfully cheesy), and inadvertently stumbles his way into being a part of this team achievement.
Considering that there are seven other rowers and the team motivator (sitting in the front with a megaphone attached to his head to shout orders, advice, and strategy), The Boys in the Boat easily could have been about any of these characters. There is nothing inherently special about Joe to make following his perspective for two hours a worthwhile investment. Each of the other team members is barely touched upon to the point where when one of them falls ill right before the climactic Olympics matchup, that might be the most noteworthy thing about the character. This is a film about a team that, for some baffling reason, focuses on one bland rower with a clichéd sadsack life he is turning around.
There is a coaching staff headed up by Joel Edgerton’s Al Ulbrickson, but he is primarily there to deliver the usual generic big speeches while pushing his team to the edge in preparing them in a manner that allows for much time to explain the many nuances of rowing itself. To George Clooney’s credit, the rowing sequences themselves are solid, alternating between crash zooms, aerial views, and the sweaty, exhausting synchronized rowing itself. It’s also mildly engaging watching the coaches and team members solve problems and figure out the right positioning of each member on the boat, instilling teamwork into their minds.
Unfortunately, there is never any urgency to the proceedings, intensity to the matchups, or much excitement since The Boys in the Boat is stuck in a lifeless mode running down history with forced melodrama. It’s a by-the-numbers crowdpleaser that doesn’t do much of note beyond re-creating the time period. Every character is as wooden as the boat.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
