Review: Clooney’s “Boys in the Boat” is a moving but a little stuffy tale of the underdog

“The Boys in the Boat” director George Clooney starts and finishes on a lake with diffused sunlight. It’s an alluring picture, serene and calming, and it perfectly captures the spirit of a movie that often gives the impression that the viewer has entered an exquisitely constructed, elegant, and somewhat antiquated oil painting.

Clooney’s portrayal of the University of Washington rowing crew, a resilient bunch that astonishingly made it to the 1936 Berlin Olympics, is both rousing and a little stuffy as well as entertaining and a little predictable. Considering the skill level required, this is not a major fault. However, we recognize this when Joel Edgerton’s coach character looks around his squad and says, “We need an edge, Tom.” Here, a little advantage might be helpful.

We do get beautiful moments in place of edge, particularly when the guys go into those boats. However, when we first meet Joe Rantz (Callum Turner), a homeless college student, rowing is the last thing on his mind.

We are in the midst of the Great Depression in 1936, in Seattle. Rantz is attempting to get an engineering degree, but he struggles to make ends meet. To be clear, we are not discussing a body of water at this time. He can’t even afford to eat lunch in the university cafeteria after his father abandoned him when he was 14 years old, so he sneaks out to a soup kitchen. He is given two weeks by the bursar’s office to settle his account.

There are tryouts for the crew team, according to a fellow student. Joe isn’t very interested in the proposition until he finds out it comes with a cheap hotel and a salary. Only eight out of the hundreds that try out will make the squad, which is the only issue.

However, as with other significant challenges in this movie, Joe and his companion are embraced, thus the impediment is swiftly over. The one other person in Joe’s life, Joyce (a charming and sincere Hadley Robinson), is delighted by this. Joyce sits behind him in class, nuzzles him just as he is ready to nod off, and eventually begins to fall in love with him. This is not too difficult since Joe, who is blond and athletic, is not much of a talker but is, as his buddy described Joyce earlier, “a looker.”

However, there isn’t much time for small talk. Days are spent practicing, practicing, practicing. Al Ulbrickson, their rowing coach, is also a guy of few words, even less praise, and even fewer smiles, but Edgerton gives him a tough exterior that doesn’t hide the tenderness underneath (yes, this is a standard plot device in sports dramas). But all too often, Mark L. Smith’s script (which is based on Daniel James Brown’s nonfiction book) gives him no choice but to lift his binoculars for a brief while or say things like, “We’re going to go in there and do it until we get it right!”

An extract from “The Boys in the Boat.” (Image | AP)
In every aspect, the junior varsity Huskies are the archetypal underdogs. Therefore, when they face Cal Berkeley in their first major test, nobody has high expectations. The enthusiastic coxswain, Bobby (Luke Slattery), exhorts the rowers to greatness at crucial junctures and steers the boat. “Let’s show them what’s in this boat!”

Radio commentary leads the way: “Washington is having trouble keeping up.” Washington is booming! Washington will carry it out! Although Clooney and company make it quite thrilling nevertheless, we know the crew will surpass expectations and pass every significant test because if they didn’t, their narrative would come to an end. Beautiful crowd shots have spectators dressed in brown historical attire.

The victor of the next, even more challenging exam will be eligible to participate in the Olympics in Poughkeepsie, New York, which is located along the Hudson River. Ulbrickson takes the debatable decision to send these lads, who are the junior boat of the institution, to the function. But before they go, a startling encounter with a character from Joe’s past diverts his attention.

Though Joe is momentarily banished from the squad for daring to tell his coach, “I don’t care,” not much is made of this meeting. Soon after, he is back on his feet thanks to a heart-to-heart with Peter Guinness, an older, wiser man who gives him precisely the motivation he needs. Just in time for a spectacular confrontation that is framed as a kind of class conflict — “old money versus no money at all,” declares the colorful radio host.

Before this group of underdogs can go to Berlin, they must overcome one more obstacle, and the way that obstacle is resolved is among the script’s most poignant scenes. Finally, they reach Nazi Germany, where they are greeted by flags, swastikas, and enthusiastic supporters of the German team, including Adolf Hitler, in the stands.

Let’s not give away too much, but the conclusion accomplishes almost all that was required of it. No, there isn’t much “edge” here, but Clooney and company show that attractive and appealing, or maybe more accurately, slow and steady, can win certain races.

The Motion Picture Association has classified Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures’ “The Boys in the Boat” PG-13 “for language and smoking.” 124 minutes total running time. An overall rating of 2.5 stars out of 4.