The Boys in the Boat

During the height of the Great Depression, vast swathes of Americans were at their lowest. It was the worst economic downturn in history and the public sought to cling onto any glimmer of hope they could. In 1936, that responsibility fell to Al Ulbrickson (Joel Edgerton) and the University of Washington rowing team; a rag-tag bunch who were thrust into the spotlight as they competed for gold at the Olympics in Berlin. George Clooney’s adaptation of Daniel James Brown’s The Boys in Boat brings this famous story to life on the big screen for the very first time.

The against-all-odds book became a global phenomenon upon release in 2013. An inspiring, true, real American story, the achievements of the Washington Huskies rowing team were nothing short of extraordinary. It was only a matter of time before a movie was made. That said, the project has been in the works for over a decade, with the rights acquired in 2011 and Kenneth Branagh originally booked to direct.

The end product of all this hard graft is nauseatingly corny, but what is Clooney to do when dealing with amazing factual material? He can’t make the boys lose a race they never lost. They were just too good. The Boys in the Boat is a feel-good film if soaked a little too much in nostalgia and the stars and stripes. Edgerton brings his Coach Carter role to life as Ulbrickson, hardnosed and cutthroat, but clearly a master oarsman when it comes to the sport. The dashing Callum Turner leads the charge in the boat as Joe Rantz, and despite being quietly charismatic, is just about the most developed character, the others all proving quite one-dimensional.

Where the movie really excels is the cinematography. Rowing is very cinematic, a beautiful dance in unison between camera, water and human body as every fibre of your being screams for glory and rest. The numerous sequences are filmed so the viewer is transported into the boat with the team and you feel every strained sinew and bleeding callus as they push their bodies to the limit in search of victory. Each race feels new, and as we approach the finish line, chills crawl over you as the tension is released. If anything, it makes you feel like picking up an oar yourself and taking up the sport.

A constant bugbear is that this a man’s world we are watching, as women are relegated to mere cheerleaders in this movie. Courtney Henggeler (Hazel Ulbrickson) and Hadley Robinson (Joyce Simdars), the only two women to mainly feature, act as emotional support for their other halves. Heaven forbid they have interests other than the men in their lives. No matter how hard you look, this film doesn’t pass the Bechdel test, and while you could argue that the title would clearly suggest this, it is a shame to see when other possibilities are presented.

Like the book, The Boys in the Boat depicts the triumph of the Washington Huskies valiantly in a story of determination and pride, but unlike its literary counterpart, it does little more than that.

Guy Lambert

The Boys in the Boat is released nationwide on 12^th January 2024.

Watch the trailer for The Boys in the Boat here: