The Boys in the Boat (2023) Review!!

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.

My Take – Often regarded as a classic film star, George Clooney continues to have arguably the most charming presence on screen among his peers, however, as a filmmaker he has largely been hit and miss.

While his earlier films, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) and Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), were a hit among the critics and the public, his recent directorial ventures, particularly Suburbicon (2017) and The Midnight Sky (2020) were outright bombs, with The Tender Bar (2021) gaining only minimal attention, that too for Ben Affleck‘s supporting performance.

His latest sees him take on the easiest route to directorial redemption by retelling a true-life underdog story of how a group of University of Washington junior varsity athletes defied big odds to win gold at the controversial 1936 Berlin Olympics.

Based on the nonfiction New York Times bestseller of the same name by Daniel James Brown, the resulting film is a very sanitized, prestige picture attempt that is not nearly as riveting as it should have been, but appeals to anyone looking for a straight-forward retelling of the incredible true story.

Written by Mark L. Smith (The Revenant), the film deploys personal adversity, romance and lots of drone shots on the river to keep things exciting, nevertheless one wishes director Clooney and team could have done things a lot better.

Two decades ago, this one would have been Oscar fodder, particularly due to its strong production values and performances, but today’s audience, for better or worse, prefers something stronger to whole heartedly appreciate.

Set in 1936 Seattle at the height of the Great Depression, the story follows Joe Rantz (Callum Turner), an engineering student, who has spent most of his life sleeping rough but has still managed to get into the University of Washington. Abandoned by his father at 14, he can’t even afford to eat lunch at the university cafeteria, slipping out to a soup kitchen.

But when financing becomes tight and is given two weeks to pay his outstanding tuition fees, Rantz decides to take up an opportunity with the University rowing team because it comes with a room and a small financial compensation. The only problem: only eight of the hundreds who try out will make the team.

Plus, the Washington University rowing team has not won a race in a long time, and Coach Al Ulbrickson (Joel Edgerton) is starting to feel the pressure from above to place or get replaced. Thus beginning an impossibly overwhelming journey that plots their way to the Olympics.

This is basic storytelling presented in its finest form though – everything looks stunning and period recreations dazzle with detail. This being a traditional Hollywood film, director Clooney also supplies Rantz with a love interest in the form of Joyce (Hadley Robinson) who takes only a few minutes to fall deeply in love with him, but the actual boat races are more exciting than one could have expected. Indeed, one can imagine how the challenging racing scenes on the water could have been to film, and successfully come across as realistic.

I didn’t know a whole lot about the sport of 8 man rowing before watching this film and unfortunately, I feel like I still don’t. There is some attempt early on to show us the ropes through the eyes of Joe, himself completely new to the sport. But it isn’t long before the tactics and techniques of the sport fall away and the races become a simple matter of ‘the fastest boat wins’.

Great care is taken to portray the period and the struggles that the working class went through at the time. The rich versus poor element is touched on, as are the politics which, yes, even existed in sports 90 years ago.

And though we can’t help but cheer for these scrappy underdogs, the film doesn’t resonate entirely as it doesn’t deeply focus on the team dynamics and the men growing in sync with each other, focusing instead broadly on the team through the character of Joe and the overall sport and background politics through Ulbrickson.

Using broad brush strokes for characterization throughout, director Clooney somehow manages to sideline most of the occupants in the boat to only the most basic of story beats. The film is also quite overly sentimental as the setbacks the team faced come across on screen like passing hiccups that inevitably dissipate before their pre-destined victory.

Performance wise, Callum Turner does a really fine job with his quiet yet complicated protagonist, while Joel Edgerton plays the gruff yet supportive coach role to perfection. Peter Guinness is a standout. Hadley Robinson is very likable.

In other roles, Chris Diamantopoulos, James Wolk, Sam Strike, Courtney Henggeler, Jack Mulhern, Luke Slattery, Tom Varey, Wil Coban, Thomas Elms and Bruce Herbelin-Earle make for a fine ensemble. On the whole, ‘The Boys in the Boat’ is an old-fashioned well-made underdog story thwarted by its old-fashioned approach.