The Boys in the Boat

The Boys in the Boat

The triumphant underdog story of the University of Washington men's rowing team, who stunned the world by winning gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

  • Released:
  • Runtime: 124 minutes
  • Genre: Drama, History
  • Stars: 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, Joel Phillimore, Glenn Wrage, Edward Baker-Duly, Alec Newman, Peter Guinness, Laurel Lefkow, Sam Douglas
  • Director: George Clooney
 Comments
  • adamfrinsco-27748 - 16 June 2024
    Boring AI box office movie
    Quality film for its production but dang was it predictable and cliche. If you want to watch a scripted Hollywood underdog film then great, but if you want to watch a movie that elicits anything more than simple feelings, watch something else. I was bored almost entireythrough but thought there would be a payoff at a certain point, but there wasn't. Even the love story they sprinkled in between the lead amd supporting cast members was undeveloped. I honestly would not be surprised if Chat GBT wrote this film and it was massively profitable. Yes there were expenses related to the set but most of the film took place on the water. Can't imagine a crazy amount of overhead on boats and paddles.
  • itsokkatie - 31 May 2024
    Solid but had potential to be truly great as the true story it's based on
    The Boys in the Boat is based on the true story of the University of Washington's junior rowing team during the Great Depression.

    This was film was adapted from the book of the same title and directed by George Clooney and stars Joel Edgerton as Al and Callum Turner as Joe, our main stars.

    The film features our main character, Joe Rantz, and the rowing HC, Al Ulbrickson. This is the true story of the team's journey of ragtag and rough group of young men making it to the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

    I love a wartime, inspiration underdog tale. Who wouldn't?! Overall, this movie is solid. Very solid. What I kept thinking was 'it could have been even better, even Oscar-worthy' if not for a few missteps in the film.

    The most glaring and obvious element that Clooney failed to really capitalize on was the relationship between the crew and the team's relationship to their Coach. That should have been the focus. Instead, we get some middling romance between Joe and Joyce, which, frankly, wasn't needed. I don't know if that was a big feature in the book or if it was added to just add 'romance', but it took away from more important things that could have/should have been the real focus.

    Another miss was really delving into Joe's character as he had the most screen time but you never really got to know him. I think that's because there was so little character development overall, for all the characters. Not to mention, very little dialogue and even less between any of the characters save a few tidbits between Joe and George (played artfully by Peter Guinness). To be honest, the dialogue was pretty poor, static, and not very dynamic. Sometimes you can learn about characters through how they speak and what they say and how they say it if you don't want to get into a whole backstory. But you don't get any of that. You don't get to know any of the characters beyond the surface. It's a bio-pic of sorts, a human interest story type of film...or maybe I wanted it to be that...but because we don't get the human side, the developed characters, the story becomes about the sport and whatever action can be taken from that.

    I get that the 'action' element is important and the 'real' character is actually the sport of rowing and the boat, which came across, but when stories feature the sport over the human story, it become less poignant and the nuance is just zero at that point. The fact that it's during the Depression is almost an afterthought. You also have the background is the '36 Olympics in which Hitler and Nazi Germany is dominating the globe, which was also never fully utilized in an effective or in a remotely dramatic way when that could have provided some much needed and palpable drama.

    There was some sprinkling of the politics around the sport and who gets the spot to the Olympics as well as some class depiction, which helped to really drive the point that the boys from Washington were poor and not as affluent as their counterparts that had Ivy money behind them, as well as the favoritism. That part should have been a bit more pronounced as that's where we the whole 'underdog' part of the tale. The odds were against them at every point and yet, they persevered and succeeded.

    Had Clooney opted to made it about the people in the story with the background of rowing, Nazi Germany, the Depression, politics/class, I think this would have been out of the park. Like Angelina Jolie's directorial effort in Unbroken--actor directors lack vision and tend to go for the safe route vs really pushing the boundaries, especially creating memorable characters to root for.

    In the end, this is still a solid product. Pacing, editing, production, score, etc...all good. Worthy of a watch or two, for sure. It's just unfortunate, the wasted potential of what this film could have been.
  • sarahtipton-37544 - 10 May 2024
    The Boys in the Boat Competes with the Best
    In a cinema world that is unfortunately filled with little to no real acting and over stimulated action and CG nightmares of the worst kind, I found this charming movie to be just the kind of feel good sports movie I wanted to watch with its beautiful acting, cinematography and directing. I love the setting; the Great Depression; the obvious struggle the main character had as an orphaned vagabond, to only then to try out for the Washington rowing team; and to rediscover a girl whom he had a crush on as a child. This is the best recipe that great movies are made of. I definitely recommend this one for your next movie night.