The Boys in the Boat

Director George Clooney understands the strength of this classic underdog story, and he knows how to tell it, with gorgeous visuals and heartfelt performances.

The film is an unshowy but slick underdog sports picture, fluidly told and elegantly mounted. It’s about rowing, for chrissakes; it doesn’t have a post-modern or irreverent bone in its body, and for that, we can be at least a little grateful.

There is not much “edge” here, but Clooney and team prove that sometimes, slow and steady — or should we say, pretty and pleasing — can still win some races.

Any attempt at Chariots of Fire-style emotional intensity is tanked, however, by Callum Turner’s unhelpfully laconic, low-key performance.

Steeped in old-fashioned virtues and a feel-good underdog story, The Boys in the Boat isn’t bad, but it doesn’t ever navigate its way out of the shallow end of the sports-movie pool either.

Clooney and his screenwriter, Mark L Smith, tell their story with rousing traditionalism, reinforced by Alexandre Desplat’s idealist score, but little more.

For being based on such a memorable story, it's incredible how forgettable The Boys in the Boat is. Clooney's direction is so empty and the writing so trite that it leaves the committed cast stranded out on the water with nowhere meaningful to go.

IN A NUTSHELL: My husband read the 2013 bestselling book by Daniel James Brown long ago and loved it. For years, he kept asking, “When are they going to turn this story into a movie?!” The time has finally come! George Clooney directed and produced this inspirational film based on the incredible true story. Clooney was quoted as saying, “It was really important to us that the rowing community actually had a film that captured the thrill of what that is, and the speed.” Amazon purchased MGM in 2022, later creating the name Amazon MGM Studios. I’m expecting great things from this merger! THINGS I LIKED: The cast is solid and features Joel Edgerton, Callum Turner, Jack Mulhern, Courtney ****, Chris Diamantopoulos, Hadley Robinson, Sam Strike, and Luke Slattery. The young men who played the athletes had a goal of getting to 46 strokes a minute while they filmed the movie. They achieved their goal after training every day for five months! Unbelievably, none of them had any rowing experience before this film. I loved the old-fashioned nature of this period piece when people worked hard and had grit. The races are pretty doggone exciting! The moment when the rowers met Jesse Owens was touching. When they commented that he was going to show those **** how talented he was, he said, “No, I’m going to show them back home.” Impressive cinematography by Martin Ruhe. When I saw **** in the stands, I just wanted to smack him. Ha ha The movie does a great job of illustrating that it takes mental strength too, not just physical strength to excel at athletic tasks. Nice costume design by Jenny Eagan. Keep watching during the rolling credits at the end to see some old photos of the famous rowers in real life. For what it’s worth, one of my grandson’s names is Crew! True story! THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE: The movie slows its pace in sections. Pun intended. The musical score by Alexandre Desplat was lovely but could have used some sweeping moments that built more tension. Because we already know the end of the story, the suspense was missing. It’s extremely paint-by-the-numbers and predictable. Film critics have rated this film harshly at a low 56% on Rotten Tomatoes, while fans have awarded it a high 96%. All in all, the movie is nice…but not as great as I wanted it to be. As is the case for films like this, the book is always better than the movie. TIPS FOR PARENTS: Young kids might be bored but teens will enjoy it. Some bullying Some “light” profanity

When it comes to underdog stories, there are offerings that are decidedly inspirational and those that are riddled with clichés. As for the latest in this genre from director George Clooney, the film falls squarely in the latter category. Although capably made for the most part, this fact-based account about the 1936 US Olympic gold medal-winning eight-man rowing team is positively rife with shopworn predictable sports story tropes, nearly all of which can be handily spotted from a mile away. While the period piece production values and cinematography are generally solid, much of the rest of the picture is about as pedestrian as one can get, from the screenplay to the narrative to the performances. The release also features some unusual camera work and film editing, most of which adds nothing and comes across as more puzzling than anything else. What’s more, there are few meaningful tie-ins to the site of the 1936 Games – Berlin in Adolph **** Germany – an aspect of the story that serves as little more than a backdrop but carries few, if any, other connotations. To be honest, I expect more from a filmmaker like Clooney in terms of cinematic imagination and inventiveness, but those attributes are almost entirely lacking here. In short, “The Boys in the Boat” is fundamentally bland and unengaging – by no means a bad film but certainly a second-rate production that fails to get viewers particularly excited, enthused or inspired.

Clooney se sai tão burocrático na direção, que absolutamente passa despercebido, num filme sobre uma equipe de remo que tenta se agarrar a tantos clichês (a história de vida, a fase de superação), sem querer, no entanto, parecer apegado. O resultado é frio, mas ao mesmo tempo há ali alguma classe e alguma simpatia. A cena onde aparece um atleta negro competindo na Alemanha **** e deixando claro que, na verdade, estava pondo à prova os próprios compatriotas, é bem satisfatória.

The Boys in the Boat is your typical film about “losers” who, against all odds, achieve success. George Clooney can't make anything different than this kind of movie anymore. It's decently acted, but mediocre subtext and a lack of nuance deprive it of being anything valuable. Excessively long and repetitive. Its “inspirational” speech is trite and outdated. Boring.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]