The Boys in the Boat

Grade: B

Last month gave us what I’m calling the Christmas Dump of 2023, where 9 movies were unloaded on us within 3 days. On either December 22nd or 25th, theaters got the likes of Poor Things, American Fiction, Migration, The Iron Claw, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, Anyone But You, The Color Purple, Ferrari, and The Boys in the Boat. The latter was one of the lowest priorities for me, as I’m just now seeing it two-thirds of the way through January. I can’t help but compare it to fellow Christmas Dump release The Iron Claw. Both are period sports movies based on true stories – and have predominantly white male casts with little to no women or people of color. I’m giving the edge to TBITB. It’s shorter, happier, and less derivative than The Iron Claw.

It’s 1936 in Seattle. Callum Turner, from the second and third Fantastic Beasts movies, plays Joe, a student at the University of Washington. He has two weeks to pay off the remaining half of his tuition, or else be forced to “consider other educational options.” He hears the rowing team is a paying gig if you make the cut, so he tries out, and out of what looks like 50 people, he is one of eight that get selected. In the scene where the young men find out the results, of course his name is read last. One of the ways the movie shines is in the training montages. The aerial shots over the rowboat and sweeping crane shots going the opposite way are beautiful to behold.

The film faithfully follows the usual template of your standard inspirational sports movie. There’s the underdog team that squeaks in to the next round, then the next round, then ultimately the Olympics, where it comes down to less than a couple seconds of difference between teams at the finish line, as the score gets loud and pompous. We have the love interest handed to the hero on a silver platter, seemingly existing solely to look cute and perpetually flirt. Here, the honors are done by Hadley Robinson, recently a scene-stealer in Anyone But You, also from the Christmas Dump. I initially mistook her for Kirsten Dunst when watching that one; she has that aura about her. This character doesn’t have the most depth in the world, but like Lily James in The Iron Claw, she looks great and has fun.

There’s the coach, who gets pressure from higher-ups to “get us another medal – it’s been a while,” and dishes out tough love. He’s played here by Joel Edgerton. He wonderfully carried Master Gardener, one of my favorite movies of 2023, and he is now one of my favorite actors working today. He has a no-nonsense gruff delivery, a face that conveys a thousand thoughts beyond what’s on the page, and I might be developing a wee bit of a straight man crush on him. The score shoots for the stars, trying to be the next E.T. or Jurassic Park or The Natural. It makes a valiant, respectable effort, and I caught a few notes from “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” snuck into the theme during the opening credits. Clever.

The Boys in the Boat is a marked improvement from director George Clooney over his last film. The Tender Bar was riddled with conventions, clichés, and predictability. Make no mistake, The Boys in the Boat has its share of all of that, too, but rather than fall to the mercy of the tried and true tropes and get swallowed up by them, Clooney makes them work for and serve the movie this time instead of the other way around. You could say it uses the current to its advantage.

Grade: B