The Big Picture

George Clooney’s latest film, The Boys in the Boat, lacks personality and fails to leave a mark like his previous directorial efforts. There is little care or attention given to the characters, leaving minimal sense of their interior lives beyond the broad strokes. The film pays lip service to complex themes but lacks depth and nuance, ultimately sinking the longer it carries on.

In 2002, veteran actor George Clooney made his directorial debut with the film Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. More than two decades later, it is widely considered to be among his better directorial efforts. At the time, there was even one critic who suggested that the film was so surprisingly well-made that it must have been directed by Clooney’s frequent collaborator Steven Soderbergh. Clooney, as revealed in a 2020 profile for GQ, subsequently sent a slightly humorous letter to the writer of the review as a way of pushing back on this. While not the only time there has been a question of who directed a film, it is particularly funny to look back on this story now after the trajectory Clooney’s directing efforts have taken. One wishes he would be mistaken more often for a talented director. In the case of his latest, the often well-acted yet superficial The Boys in the Boat, no such mistakes will be made.

The Boys in the Boat 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. Release Date December 25, 2023 Rating PG-13 Main Genre Drama Genres Biography , Drama , Sports Writers Daniel James Brown , Mark L. Smith

The Boys in the Boat could still be confused with being assembled by someone else, but only because it is so lacking in any sort of personality. Such has often been the case with Clooney’s films, which have most recently consisted of the largely forgettable run of The Monuments Men, Suburbicon, The Midnight Sky, and The Tender Bar. It’s surprising how prolific a director he has been and how little any of his films have left a mark. Of course, maybe this shouldn’t be a surprise, considering how actors often become directors based on their fame more than their talent. As long as you slap Clooney’s name on the movie, people will likely come out to see it. The trouble is, though the material may occasionally be promising, this doesn’t make the film any good. When it is written by the co-writer of this year’s dull swamp of a movie The Marsh King’s Daughter as The Boys in the Boat is, then you’re on course for an even poorer result.

What Is ‘The Boys in the Boat’ About?

Based on the nonfiction book of the same name by Daniel James Brown—which is worth reading more than this is watching—the film opens on an old man looking out at a young kid rowing alone in the waters of Washington State (which the film frequently pretends to be while not shooting on location). It then travels back through time to the 1930s where we meet the young college student Joe Rantz (Callum Turner) who we soon see is looking to be a part of the University of Washington’s rowing team. The reason for this is that he has recently learned he may not be able to afford tuition for much longer and this represents his way to stay in school while also getting a place to sleep. This is ostensibly meant to be a historical portrait of the Great Depression and how so many people were driven into poverty, with Joe having to study by candlelight while homeless, though any nuance is sacrificed for it to be swept up in the poorly told story. Joe ends up making the team and begins training under Coach Al Ulbrickson (Joel Edgerton) who has aspirations of making it to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.

What The Boys in the Boat film seems to forget in all of this is the importance of getting to know the characters who were part of this significant chapter in history. At times, there is more attention paid to the boat than the boys that are in it. The camera will linger lovingly over the vessel in a way that makes it feel like it is of more interest to Clooney than the people rowing it. Where a film like 2021’s underrated The Novice felt attuned to the rhythms of the sport without losing sight of its characters, The Boys in the Boat ultimately succeeds at neither with some noticeably bad visual effects when they’re supposedly out on the water making it all the worse. While the tonal aspirations here are different, there is no heart to provide any inspiration to the “inspirational sports drama” formula. We get to see slivers of the character’s interior lives outside the sport, with Rantz developing a romance with someone he knew as a boy who increasingly feels undercooked despite their supposed history, but it all remains hamstrung by the standard story. Even Edgerton, who was fantastic in last year’s slept on The Stranger, can’t give it the foundation it needs no matter how many inspiring speeches he eventually gives. When they all get into the boat for the big final race, there is a moment where you may not recognize everyone outside the couple of people the movie centered on. There is no sense of connection or camaraderie that is created outside one quick fireside bonding scene that gets smothered in the rest of the film’s ho-hum pacing.

If there is anything the film is trying to be about regarding history or inequality, it doesn’t come to life beyond the broad strokes. It didn’t need to be, but it seems to pay lip service to more complicated questions before moving beyond them in the blink of an eye. More potentially thorny conflicts will arise in one scene only to be erased moments later, leading to one interaction where a character shames Joe for being poor only to reveal he too has struggled when his family’s business collapsed. The only difference is that he says Joe did so honorably whereas he turned to sealing to get his clothes, an inexplicably and abruptly distasteful type of flattening down of how poverty can force people into desperate situations. It is all part of how the film hints at wanting to reflect on some of the specifics of the era though remains uninterested in actually spending more than a second doing so. When there are a couple of odd cameos near the end, of historical icons that were either truly inspiring or enduringly monstrous, it only brings into focus how scattered the whole thing is. There is no patience to any of it. If the boys rowed at the same poor pace, they would lose every single race.

‘The Boys in the Boat’ Is Not Clooney’s Worst, but That’s No Praise

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. The only thing of value about it, beyond some performances, is how it proves that the telling of the story matters just as much, if not more, than the story being told. This is a case where one can only wish someone like Soderbergh directed the film. Not only does he know the value of actually shooting in the location you’re setting your story, but he remains adept at directing character-driven films in a way that Clooney just isn’t able to capture here. Where Rantz and his fellow rowers will be remembered for their incredible achievements, this film that falls far short of the telling they deserved will not. Seeing them cut through the water and win against the odds must have been a thing of beauty to witness. As directed by Clooney, it all just sinks.

Rating: 3/10

The Boys in the Boat comes to theaters in the U.S. starting December 25. Click below for showtimes.

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