User reviews

The Boys In The Boat is a cinematic gem that gracefully navigates the waters of history, sportsmanship, and the indomitable human spirit. With a compelling storyline rooted in real-life events, the film effortlessly pulls you into the world of rowing, beautifully capturing the essence of teamwork and resilience. The performances are exceptional, conveying the depth of emotion that accompanies the pursuit of Olympic glory. The cinematography is stunning, making each stroke of the oar a visual spectacle. This is not just a sports movie; it's a heartwarming and inspiring tale that will resonate with audiences of all ages. The Boys in the Boat is a triumph that leaves a lasting impression, celebrating the triumph of the human spirit against all odds.

While The Boys in the Boat is a compelling film, some viewers may find fault in its pacing, as certain moments may feel rushed or unevenly distributed. Additionally, some critics argue that the film, at times, leans heavily on sports movie clichés, potentially making it predictable for those well-versed in the genre.

Very few people know this story and how incredible this was and honestly the movie didnt even touch on it enough, i know its two hours and what can they do.

Its a family movie that adults will also like the acting is perfect.

Have to give it to Clooney for doing this he had to know this wasn't going to be a huge money maker but did it anyway.

Been waiting for this since i read the fantastic book wondering if someone would pick it up. We need to pay to see these if we want them to be made in the future.

Would have like to have the accomplishments of the rowers show in the credits like the book explained, these were all very successful people, doctors, lawyers and such.

Boys in the Boat is maybe my favorite nonfiction book of all time. The story of Joe Rantz is inspiring tragic and incredibly easy to root.

The boys in the boat movie captures the beauty of rowing and team work, but it only begins to scratch the surface of the depth of these real life characters.

The biggest flaw in this movie is the writing and at times the dialogue. The writers boil down the tragedies of Joe Rantz and his teammates to simplistic and generic back stories when it would have lead to a more emotional movie to focus on how little these people were given in there life's and how much they were able to accomplish.

While it was still enjoyable and inspiring to watch this classic story, with the material that they had, they should have created a much more emotional and factual film.

I would recommend this movie to anyone but I would highly recommend people read the book.

... Merrily, merrily, merrily, Life is but a dream ...

A huge bestseller when it was published in 2013, Daniel James Brown's "The Boys in the Boat" was a big hit in my circle of friends. The kind of book that gets recommended, if not passed around, pal to pal.

Set in the '30s it was the true story of the University of Washington junior varsity rowing team who not only gunned down the storied, legacy crews of California and Ivy League colleges, but went on to the 1936 Olympics in Adolf Hitler's Berlin. It was an adrenalized page turner, a movie waiting to happen.

Now that it's getting to the screen, it helps to have George Clooney in the director's chair. Although he stays offscreen, the double-Oscar-winning actor, producer and director is the biggest name on the project.

It's his face - generally recognized as one of the coolest guys on the planet - in many of the production stills and the "for your consideration" ads targeted at industry voters this awards season. George and co-producer Grant Heslov also took part in a recent Zoom press conference for the film along with cast members Joel Edgerton, who stars as taciturn coach Al Ulbrickson; Callum Turner, who plays team member Joe Rantz; and Hadley Robinson, who lights up the screen as Joe's sweetheart, Joyce.

Opening in theaters Christmas Day, it's a feel-good throwback to old-fashioned moviemaking.

Taking place during the Great Depression, the scrappy kids at their oars offered glimpses of optimism and hope, rare commodities in those tough times. Rowing was a popular spectator sport in that pre-ESPN era with spectators lining river banks and in some cases following the action in train cars on the shore keeping pace with the sleek 8-man wooden shells slicing through the water.

Not just an incredibly demanding sport, rowing was a culture, too. The rowing world was made of wood - not just the glossy racing shells, but also their big-doored, high-ceilinged boat houses. You can almost smell the resins and varnish coming from the boathouse surrounded by lush forest on the Seattle campus.

As the team keeps achieving more success, the gorgeous historically recreated settings move, first to colleges on the East Coast before heading for swastika-adorned Germany. Legendary speedster Jesse Owens was another member of the U. S. Olympic team that year. During the press conference Clooney acknowledged borrowing camera angles from Hitler's propagandist Leni Riefenstahl for the climactic Olympic rowing scenes.

"We like to use Nazis whenever we can for filming," he joked.

The mood was light during the Zoom press conference, now that the film was in the can and the cast's arduous training was long past.

London-born actor Turner, whose Joe Rantz is as close as the eight-man team can get to having a hero, acknowledged that he hadn't had any previous rowing experience.

"None of us had actually. And we turn up in February, and we get on the river. And it's snowing. And we're all in the tight shorts and freezing cold and have no skill at being in the boat. And after about three weeks, George and Grant come down to have a look and check in on us. We weren't in a good place. And I could see the pain behind the smile on George's face." "That wasn't pain. That was fear," corrected Heslov.

The boys on the real team hadn't had any experience, either. For Joe and several teammates, making the team - beating the scores of hopefuls for the eight seats (plus the coxswain) - meant getting room and board at the university.

Unlike Ivy Leaguers born to the sport, the junior Huskies were rough hewn. "They were lumberjacks," said Clooney. They came together as a team "out of necessity, out of hunger, out of having nothing else." The actors trained together for five months. Unlike their competitors in the film in new fiberglass shells, their boat, the Huskie Clipper, was made of wood like the original. Beyond just acting, there was a sense of athletic accomplishment for Turner and his teammates.

"The hardest part about rowing is that you all have to be in complete unison," said the actor. "There's no, like, hiding. And if one person is out by a millimeter, the boat suffers." For his part, Clooney faced a different set of challenges.

"The oars are, you know, 15 feet long. And then the boats are 40-some feet long. So, you can't get close to the boats with the camera. And you can't get side by side or ahead of the boats with your camera boat, 'cause you'll capsize the boat. So, we had to come up with a design to get in tight enough to make it exciting. Meaning, we're on an 80-foot arm on the boat with a 300-millimeter lens, 200-millimeter lens, down low, getting wet, trying to hold focus while you're doing that. So, there was a ton of, like, math to try to make those things exciting." On top of that, neither Joe Rantz or Coach Ulbrickson were especially loquacious. They were men of action rather than words. On the printed page this is no big deal. On the big screen it can be. Hadley Robinson's feistiness along with her beauty, and Courtney Henggeler's portrayal of the coach's wife, Hazel, go a long way to humanizing their male partners.

In a key scene, Joe and Joyce share what Clooney called "a 1940s movie kiss" - in a train station, no less. In a way, "The Boys in the Boat" itself is a 1940s movie. It's beautiful to look at, it wears its heart on its sleeve. It comes from an era when wholesome was cool. Standing up and cheering was nothing to be embarrassed by.

But the psychological reserve of its characters played better on the page than they do on the screen.

Despite Clooney's assured direction and the unbreakable spirit of the cast, neither the predictable script nor the soft sentiments of Alexandre Desplat musical score produce the irrepressible "Chariots of Fire" sorts of emotions that spell the difference between good sports movies and great ones.

The story is incredible, so I was surprised how flat the movie was. Yes, you get some feel-good moments, but there were so many missed opportunities to make this a truly great movie. The narrative leaves a lot of loose ends that prevent us from connecting with the characters. The actors did their best with what was given, but I really wanted to know more about each character. There were also some shockingly cheesy elements - the intro and ending were completely superfluous, and just lame. The music score was corny and dated. The Boys in the Boat is worth watching once, but if you want the real story, read the book.

As a former rower, I'm glad I saw this movie. There's a certain mental stamina, in addition to physical strength, required to row a boat fast and in sync with others that not many people realize. This movie definitely made an effort to capture that, but it didn't always quite hit the mark. The creators definitely felt a lot of respect for the sport, but I don't think they would have quite sold it to me if I didn't feel the same.

The script was the biggest weak point for this movie. It was very uninspired, totally predictable. The dialogue was very wooden, and the characters were almost entirely flat. Joel Edgerton sold me on his character as a very guarded, stern-faced coach with a heart of gold, but the rest of the cast was pretty unremarkable. It's not all their fault though, most of them get very little to work with. The last scene actually made me roll my eyes, it was so cheesy and frankly amateur.

The music was a interesting. I really didn't like the score in the opening and first few scenes, but it really got me at the story's pivotal moments. That should be what counts I guess.

I did really enjoy the set though; the costumes to the production design were excellent and really painted a picture of an America that has been suffering from 5 years of the Depression that are starting to claw their way through hope and resilience to a bit of a better place.

All and all, this was a really warm feel-good story, just not one of the best movies ever made. I'm glad I saw it, but will probably never watch it again.

Great story. Love how the characters developed. BUT. There could have been in the closing credits a review of their collegiate accomplishments. And also how each team member did in life. Film felt unended. You invest the time into the plot and into the characters and you don't get to see how they panned out. The best movies let you know how the characters were in life. This team accomplished a lot in college and most went on to lead great accomplishments in their life. Why not give your audience a nice closure. A feel for how their journey panned out for them. A feel for how the 4 years of rowing enriched them and helped them grow.

These were the days of an almighty depression, when the world and its people were enveloped by recession, when food was hard to find, most folks were in a bind, and a group of desperate lads, came together as one plus seven. Coach Al Ulbrickson selects the team that he believes can win, makes a change or two to bolster a new cox as the kingpin, there are trials tribulations, before they challenge other nations, at the 36 Olympics taking place, Deutschland, Berlin. So the tensions elevated and the heats are raced and rowed, the strategy is simple at half way they just explode, but the Germans take a shot, in front of Adolf their despot, you'll have to watch the final sequence to find out winning boatload.

We waited so long for this movie to be made, ever since Daniel James Brown wrote the story. A serendipitous set of events led to the story even being recorded, as Judy Rantz Willman just happened to have Daniel James Brown as a neighbor, and eventually persuaded Brown to visit her father, who was in hospice care. What he thought was a social visit, she saw as a book about to be written. His initial skepticism evaporated quickly, when Joe began sharing his story. In Joe's remaining couple of months of life, Brown met with Rantz several times to begin creating the outline for the book. He then met with the families of the other crew members, followed by two years of further research, aided by Judy Rantz. The eight were amazing people, accustomed to hardship and personal challenges. For example, when Don Hume's family moved from Anacortes to Olympia, Don tossed his belongings into a rowboat and paddled down Puget Sound to his new home, roughly 100 miles away. Look at a map! A multiple-sport letterman in high school, he had also placed third in a state pianist's competition. And Joe Rantz was such a standout athlete in gymnastics at Roosevelt High School, that Coach Ulbrickson already had his eye on him then. So, what did we miss in the movie? Joe's difficult pre-college life is mostly absent, and worth the read by itself. We also miss Joe's wanderings around Berlin, where he witnesses Germany's horrific treatment of its Jewish population, under its totalitarian leader. Like nearly everything from Hollywood, a bit of romance is thrown in to add spice, but the story shines, throughout the picture. Here and there a bit of drama is added for effect, but personalities presented by the actors conform closely with who they represented. George Pocock really was the sage he seemed in the movie. Don Hume comes across as a bit socially awkward in the movie. A good friend met him several years ago where she worked, and described him as, uh, gruff. The fearless audacity of the team comes through in a story told only in the book. Before sailing to Germany for the Olympics, the team decides to drop in, unannounced, on Franklin Roosevelt at his home. Although they didn't find the president at home, they did spend the evening there. The story behind this movie is too remarkably wonderful to be fiction. See the movie, but by all means read the book!

This is a true story about underdogs competing for glory. Every scene was predictable, and the ending was pretty apparent within the first ten minutes, so the characters needed to be interesting, and the story needed to be tight and compelling. Unfortunately, the writing was pretty bad. There were scenes where I found myself rewriting dialog in my head that was so much more interesting than what the actors spoke on the screen. We needed to understand what motivated these underdogs but were given only a few stock scenes about how poor they were. We needed personified enemies but got only a couple short scenes where someone insulted them or they insulted each other. The main character's father showed up briefly toward the end of the movie, but it's not clear if he was a good guy under bad circumstances or a terrible jerk. It didn't really matter anyway, so his character just wasted screen time.

There could have been a running visual description of the hardships of the Great Depression for some context, but instead we saw one soup kitchen in the beginning. We all know how bad Hitler and the Nazis were, but it would have been nice to have an intertwined thread showing Nazi aggression and the Americans' reaction to it, so you cared who won the final race, but if you didn't know any history, Hitler seemed to be just some angry dude.

There was no chemistry between the main character and the girl who eventually became his girlfriend. She was annoying from beginning to end and he was robotlike in her presence. After a very chaste relationship, they suddenly ended up in bed in one short, surprising scene.

The cinematography was very nice, the best thing about the movie.

In conclusion, this is a movie for a lazy afternoon in front of the TV or an airplane flight, but not worth paying the price in a theater.

I loved book, I saw the PBS documentary, but was sorry to see early poor reviews for this film. Saw a promo on tv that it was opening on Christmas Day, and snagged a seat, but I had very little expectation that it would be good. Boy, was I wrong! This film held my attention fully, and given the terrible nature of our society right now, it was a total breath of fresh air to be transported to another time and place. Not since Indiana Jones have I felt so fully ensconced in The Great Depression, by the beautiful cinematography, perfect costuming, and fine acting depicting the sheer difficulty of just surviving in the US then. I understand some poignant issues for Joe Rantz needed to be removed from the movie due to time constraints, but all are easily accessible to anyone wanting more information. In short, I have a newfound respect for George Clooney, who made a very fine film.

Greetings again from the darkness. It's always disappointing when a book is so interesting and enjoyable to read, only to be followed up by a movie version that doesn't live up to the source material. My son recommended the 2013 best-selling non-fiction novel from Daniel James Brown, and it was truly fascinating to read such an inspirational story around the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. Of course, we all know the Jesse Owens story, yet somehow the remarkable and unlikely tale of the University of Washington crew team never received the publicity it earned. Director George Clooney (GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK, 2015) and screenwriter Mark L Smith (THE REVENANT, 2015) have attempted to reach a wider audience by adapting Brown's book for the big screen.

The story begins in Seattle during the Great Depression. Engineering student Joe Rantz (an excellent Callum Turner, EMMA., 2020) is behind on his tuition and has had no luck securing work. We learn Joe has been on his own for years, and has remained focused on his education despite living in such poverty that he frequently goes without meals and uses folded newspapers to keep dirt and moisture out of the hole in his shoe sole. His buddy Roger (Sam Strike) informs him of crew tryouts, and a spot on the JV team comes with a job and stipend. No-nonsense coach Al Ulbrickson (Joel Edgerton) isn't much for motivational speeches and lets the rookies know most won't survive the training to claim one of the eight seats on the boat.

Contradictory arguments can be made that director Clooney either took on too much of the story, or not enough. The result is a middling movie about an incredibly inspirational story of underdogs reaching the highest levels of achievement. Included here are only brief glimpses of the personal life of Coach Ulbrickson and his pertinent past, the motivation and wisdom of boat maker George Pocock (screen vet Peter Guiness), and the blossoming romance between Joe and Joyce (up and coming Hadley Robinson, LITTLE WOMEN, 2019). However, the biggest gap here is the connection and camaraderie between Joe and his teammates. The importance of working together "as one" is preached, but we aren't privy to how this happened so quickly. Skimming over this is the film's major flaw, as that bond is the key to their growth and success. By the end of the film, most will only recall Joe's name and two or three other faces on the team.

The racing scenes on the water were surely challenging to film, and come across as realistic, even though we know these are actors and not world class athletes. The rich versus poor element is touched on, as are the politics which, yes, even existed in sports 90 years ago. Initially it's the newcomers against legendary coach Ky Ebright (Glenn Wrage) and his favored team from Cal, and then it becomes the blue-collar Washington boys against the Ivy League elites ... before heading to Berlin. The Olympics give us swastikas, a cheesy meet between the boys and Jessie Owens, and Daniel Philpott reprising his portrayal as Hitler from "The Crown", only with more outlandish mannerisms.

The radio broadcasts provide a nostalgic look of how challenging it was to keep up with things during the era, and the newsreels are another nice touch. For those who have never been part of a crew, the term coxswain is likely a new one, and Clooney includes actual photos of the team over the closing credits. The memorable quote is "We were never eight, we were one", but for some reason director Clooney thought it a good idea to have a lame framing device set in more modern times around this historic tale. Somehow, we don't feel the adrenaline rush we should during this movie as it falls short of Oscar winner CHARIOTS OF FIRE (1981), perhaps the film that Clooney was attempting to mimic.

Opening in theaters nationwide on December 25, 2023.

I don't like sport but I do love a good sport's movie after my Sunday roast.

This has everything you would expect, down-trodden beautiful people who need to strive to win a game of sports.

This has a very traditional feel about it with a fairly standard hero and romantic interest which, bizarrely, felt quite refreshing.

The boys row the boat and get knocked down but then do better to some rousing music.

There really is nothing new here but the people making this film realised it and ran with it.

It is great to watch a film that isn't trying to be something it is not.

The costumes and sets are amazing and you get a real (although sanitised) feel for the time.

The story focuses on a few characters meaning other members of the crew fade into the background - but the main characters have enough to them to carry this along.

There is nothing to get excited, upset or hot under the collar here - just a good honest story.

I miss movies like this.

My only criticism is it felt a little long - but then that is what Sunday afternoons are all about.

Clooney hits the mark beautifully with this film. This is a story about a ragtag group of boys who come together to unify a nation despite the circumstances around it. A story that hard work will beat talent when talent fails to work hard. This movie didn't have the marketing of Aquaman or Wonka but the story is compelling and well told. Edgerton is great, as is the rest of cast. This movie will get you on your feet and make you feel proud to be an American (if you are one). To me, this movie illustrates, similar to Miracle, Remember the Titans or Rocky (albeit fictional) that nothing is more culturally significant to Americans than sports. Consider watching it yourself if you're down for a feel good movie.

'The Boys in the Boat' is a pretty good film. Not great. But an enjoyable watch. Directed by George Clooney and starring Joel Edgerton as a square-jawed rowing coach, it is a kind of film we've all seen before. The film during which an underdog chess player, or dancer, or football team, or baseball team, a painter, a tailor, a loser-at-love, perseveres and overcomes all odds on their path to success. Here it's the members of the Eight-Man Crew; our heroes from the University of Washington making it all the way to the 1936 Olympics (in Nazi Berlin) in search of gold.

The film is chock-full of impossible to believe feel good moments; the boy meets girl, the boy jumps out the window of the girl's dorm room, the bad man who turns out to be not bad at all, the father figure who saves the day for the 'fatherless' boy, the last minute problems somehow overcome, and on and on. And I cannot say that I didn't wince with every corny moment because I truly did. But the film's action scenes are so well produced and directed that I found myself forgiving its many overly sentimental moments.

You, however, might not. And I would understand if you said, 'Enough, I'm outta here'. And it's likely that many did.

But not I. I stayed. Much to my surprise.

After in-law sister saw it and just love it, I figured why not go see it. I know nothing about about the sport but the way the story was told, and the fact there were no big name types in the movie it made it a lot more believable. As a history nut . I knew about a lot of countries that beat Hitler and what became of his athletes that lost. Yes the lines were a tad flat and alot of back story would be better on all the boys. I caught my self getting really into the training of aspects of the boys, PS, I use a rowing machine to try to keep the fat down. It was so enjoyable to watch a movie that was more about the effort and not about who can make the most money. Go see it.

The river scenery is awesome. The boat racing scenes are thrilling. The look inside the techniques and culture of rowing is fascinating. The characters make you cheer for an underdog rookie rowing team as they battle experienced rowers, overbearing athletic boosters, corrupt sports officials, and numerous skeptics.

What then is Boys in the Boat missing? Drama. Suspense. Like many underdog sports movies, the ending (and many events along the way) is totally predictable. Not to worry though. The movie is also missing the grim gloom and violence of many modern flicks. If you watch Boys in the Boat, you can just sit back and enjoy the ride!

What an amazing movie!

I actually forgot that I was in the movie theater and found myself clapping and cheering with each race!

The entire ensemble was perfectly cast! I must say, I can't pick a favorite character or actor, each one held their own with an outstanding performance.

Though based in Seattle, this movie is not just for the Husky alumni to enjoy. I was incredibly moved by Cal's role in the non-fiction story.

Everyone worked together to make America extremely proud during the 1936 Summer Olympics in Germany.

Definitely watch and support this movie. It's absolutely worth the price of a ticket and popcorn; you'll definitely want to watch this one at the theater.

Very good story, great production, A for effort, but the rest is just so so. George Clooney directing this was a terrible choice. The man in bland and ordinary like your most average 50-something male and it shows throughout the entire movie. The "love" scenes are so transactional and non moving. They're just... there. Because someone told them they needed them. Not really relevant to the story whatsoever. I mean, can you imagine a main character without a love interest?? I know, right! It's never been done before... lol

The acting - so so. Not bad but absolutely average through and through. I think after 4 months of training these boys were too exhausted to act. I know I would be!

Of course the production, the scenery, the editing, and all that stuff was on point. But this movie lacked "heart". It's a shame because it could have been something special but making the main character a sad, quiet, slow, and emotionless human was not a good idea. Who would have thought!

As a fervent admirer of Daniel James Brown's masterful novel "The Boys in the Boat," it pains me to witness the cinematic adaptation's dismal descent into the depths of creative mismanagement. While the book brought the compelling true story of the University of Washington's rowing team to life with vivid prose and meticulous research, the film adaptation seems to have taken its own creative liberties with reckless abandon. Let's start with the few redeeming qualities. The actors, who seemed to be well-cast on paper, brought a sense of authenticity to their roles. Their performances were, at times, the lifebuoys attempting to keep this sinking ship afloat. However, even the most seasoned actors couldn't rescue the film from the disastrous screenplay that plagued the entire narrative. The script, in its misguided attempt to condense the rich and nuanced details from the book, left much to be desired. Leaving several important races and moments out of the narrative, it felt jagged. It's as if the screenwriter took a hacksaw to the heart of the story, leaving behind a disjointed and diluted version of the epic tale. Subplots were discarded like excess baggage, and the emotional depth, the brotherhood of the characters that made the book so moving was reduced to mere ripples on the surface. Creative license is a powerful tool in filmmaking, but in the case of "The Boys in the Boat," it felt more like an abuse of power. The liberties taken with historical accuracy were not only unnecessary but downright disrespectful to the real-life individuals whose stories were being told. The camera work, while commendable, couldn't salvage the wreckage caused by the script and the disregard for historical fidelity. The sweeping shots of rowers gliding through the water were visually stunning, but these moments were fleeting, and the overall impact was drowned out by the script's inadequacies. In conclusion, "The Boys in the Boat" movie is a sinking ship that fails to do justice to the extraordinary source material. While the actors and the camera work put forth valiant efforts, the script's shortcomings and the painful creative license taken ultimately leave audiences adrift in disappointment. Stick to the book, where the true beauty of this remarkable story unfolds with the respect and authenticity it deserves.

I feel like there's a beautiful director's cut out there that fills in all the stories behind each of the eight (nine really) in the boat and how they became one. Obviously no expense was spared on the production and the sets and costumes were amazing. It's really a shame how chopped up the film ends up so we only get a highlight reel of all the cheesy bits without any of the build up that would give the scenes impact. In the end it almost seems like they rushed it out the door just to get it out the door with the directive that it had to be under two hours.

I'm going to read the book to learn what I missed.

Callum Turner has become quite impressive since Green Room a great horror from (2015) he put so much talent into The Boys in the Boat I'm surprised this movie wasn't nominated! I haven't seen other directed films of George Clooney this makes me want to see his other movies although I do love him as an actor in many great roles. I don't know much about rowing boats besides what I saw in this which was incredible and must be a challenge. Such a great drama/romance everyone involved was pretty enjoyable, solid for any age maybe better for older folks cause younger ones get restless; I'm glad a older employee named Crystal at the theater I go to recommended this.