The Boys In The Boat Review
There’s something quite lovely about this film, irrespective of how cliche it feels. They don’t make movies like this anymore - a sort of Dead Poets Society on water.
Set in the 1930’s, The Boys in the Boat follows Joe Rantz (Callum Turner) as he joins the University of Washington’s rowing team to escape his Depression-era life. When he does, he discovers the joy and camaraderie amongst this Junior Varsity team - something coach Al Ulbrickson (Joel Edgerton) also comes to see, eventually backing this JV team over his senior team, and taking them all the way to the world stage at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, where they must defeat the German national team in front of the Fuhrer himself.
George Clooney directs this film that very firmly wears its heart on its varsity sleeve. Sun-soaked university days, mixed with the polished gray facade of 1930’s depression-era Washington, make this a film that plays in very pretty versions of two worlds. It’s a movie that, for the vast majority of its runtime, has very small scale and ambition, and to that end is very powerful. There’s something lovely about tuning into a competition between a couple of universities, rowing to glory in period-set America.
Turner gives a fantastic turn as the down-on-his-luck Joe Rantz, rowing desperately to save his budding university career, and then to protect his newfound life. He’s joined by a group of young performers each showing strength, in particular Sam Strike as Roger Morris and Jack Mulhern as the quietly taciturn Don Hume. Hadley Robinson performs admirably as Rantz’s sweetheart, Joyce Simdars, and while the strokes may be very, very broad on their romance, there is nevertheless something sweet about it.
Joel Edgerton plays Coach Ulbrickson, and it is an interesting performance. On one level, the fatherly tendencies towards some of these boys comes across very strongly through the nuance and physicality of his performance, speaking to the quality of the role. But on the other hand, there are elements that really don’t work, like his speech winding them up before their Olympic race. It’s an interesting performance that feels perched on the edge of greatness, but not quite there, and to some extent that can be a little disappointing.
That being said, how much of that can be attributed to performance, and how much to script? Screenwriters Daniel James Brown and Mark L Smith don’t swing for the fences here, this is about as formulaic as they come. When it drops down to things like the Coach’s speech at the end, that is where we feel it the most; we’ve seen this all before.
And indeed, for a lot of this film, that feeling of ‘we’ve seen this all before’ is there. But the great strength of this movie is that it feels like a warm hug. Clooney has no issue with not ‘reinventing cinema’, no problem luxuriating in the classic movie feeling. Outside of some of the eye-rolling dialogue, and a few moments that don’t hit, for the most part this is a smart choice that makes the movie feel sincere, and frankly differentiates it from all of the modern retelling subversion of other recent films.
The movie does stumble when it gets to Germany, and tries to incorporate Adolf Hitler watching the race. It feels a little forced, and while of course this is a historical event they are retelling, a little more nuance and hiding a little more of his presence would have gone a long way. The film also has some issues with noise, particularly making it difficult to hear the Coxswain’s instructions as he yells over the boat.
Overall, however, this is a lovely little movie that evokes an age of movie-going and movie-making that feels lost in the current era. It’s sincere, heartfelt, and ultimately - for those in the mood for it - a warm, enjoyable time in the cinema.
