Introduction
Disney had a solid run of harmless always-on-cable sports movies in the 90s and early 2000s. They followed a formula and delivered some entertainment. George Clooney’s The Boys in the Boat delivers that throwback feeling once again.
Formula/Plot
Is that throwback formula a good thing? It’s not a bad thing. Those films like Cool Runnings or The Rookie are cliched as all hell and hit all the same story beats you expect them to hit. Are these true stories where the truth was probably fudged quite a bit, but you don’t care. It’s an old-fashioned film that would have been a big box office hit in 1994.
The titular boys refer to the eight members of the University of Washington rowing crew in 1936. Behind coach Al Ulbrickson (Joel Edgerton), boatbuilder George Pocock (Peer Guinness), and the working-class crew, they seek to win Olympic gold at the 1936 Berlin games. At the same time, there has to be adversity, so the boys include Joe Rantz (an impossibly blonde Callum Tuner), a young man abandoned by his family and barely scraping by to afford college.
Sports Movie Clichés Everywhere
Underdogs overcoming the odds to reach the pinnacle of athletic achievement! It’s the stuff dreams are made of! There’s nothing wrong with these messages, they are just extremely old-fashioned to the point of being naïve. At one point, Joe messes with the boat speed because he’s just so angry about being poor. What gets him out of it? An inspirational speech from a coach. It’s hokey as can be, but it’s harmless.
Even the obvious environmental obstacles start to become eye-rolling. They get denied the best lane choice, they have to raise money because they are “poor” school, and one guy is sick and can’t keep the rhythm. It’s all just adversity for the sake of adversity. I certainly can’t say all these things didn’t happen for the team to get to where they got, but it’s also pretty far-fetched that all this happened. Also, Hitler was there! Well, probably not.
No actor sets themselves apart performance-wise, though no one does bad. Turner doesn’t have much to work with, but he stays likeably handsome and inoffensive. Edgerton gets the veteran coach role, with a bit more substance, despite being a clear supporting player. Guinness is the magical old man in the story, but I smiled each time he came on screen, so that’s something.
Conclusion
There’s a fairly unnecessary subplot with Joe’s romantic life, there’s a radio announcer who has a much bigger role than expected…it’s just a silly production. But you know what? Who cares? I’ll watch it again the next time it’s on TV. I hope it turns into a television staple. The Boys in the Boat is crowd-pleasing and perfectly fine. Don’t expect awards recognition, but it isn’t horrible. That’s good enough for me.
The Boys in the Boat had its official world premiere at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Los Angeles on December 11, 2023. The film is scheduled to be released by Amazon MGM Studios in US theaters on December 25, 2023.
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