Movie Review

George Clooney makes The Boys in the Boat an old-fashioned crowd-pleaser

As an actor, George Clooney has earned much acclaim in his career thanks to roles in ER, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Ocean’s Eleven, Michael Clayton, and others. As a director, the results have been decidedly mixed, ranging from the highs of the Oscar-nominated Good Night, and Good Luck to the lows of the little-seen Leatherheads.

His latest directorial effort, The Boys in the Boat, falls somewhere between those two extremes. It follows Joe Rantz (Callum Turner), a University of Washington student struggling – like many others – through the Great Depression in the 1930s. More as a way to earn money to afford to eat and stay in school, Rantz tries out for the junior varsity of the university’s rowing team, one that has a storied history.

Naturally, Rantz makes the team, joining seven others who are soon be pushing the varsity members for dominance. Coach Al Ulbrickson (Joel Edgerton) is faced with a dilemma, as the JV team wins race after race against other schools, and also consistently beats the varsity team during practice. With the 1936 Olympics looming, will he give the upstarts a chance to compete for a spot in Berlin, or stick with the tried-and-true?

Working from a script by Mark L. Smith (based on the book by Daniel James Brown), Clooney turns the film into an old-fashioned crowd-pleaser, with an emphasis on old-fashioned. Some of that, of course, has to do with it being a period film, one where the male athletes are the unquestioned heroes and women like Joe’s girlfriend Joyce (Hadley Robinson) and Coach Ulbrickson’s wife Hazel (Courtney Henggeler) are there to support their men, and little else.

Photo by Laurie Sparham

Callum Turner and Jack Mulhern in The Boys in the Boat.

The film does make a few cursory attempts at giving the story extra meaning, with scenes showing just how difficult life was for many during the Depression, although Joe’s financial woes magically become non-existent once he joins the team. This lack of introspection also reveals itself late in the film when – spoiler alert! – the team makes it to the Olympics, giving Joe and a teammate a chance to talk to Jesse Owens (Jyuddah James). The moment is so brief and so overly loaded with significance that it comes off as laughable.

The film is at its best when focusing on the boat races, each of which are staged with a nice energy despite having predictable outcomes. Clooney and cinematographer Martin Ruhe use all the tricks in the book to make the races watchable, from switching back-and-forth often from the boats to the fans watching or listening on radio, to lightning fast editing showing the efforts of the rowers.

Turner, who’s been on the rise in the past decade, does well in the lead role, giving off an aw-shucks demeanor belied by his good looks and athleticism. Edgerton plays the gruff-but-lovable coach exactly as you’d hope. Both he and Turner are buoyed by their love interests, with Robinson and Henggeler making the most of their thankless roles. Character actor Peter Guinness puts in yeoman’s work as the team’s boat builder/guru.

It’s easy to see The Boys in the Boat succeeding with audiences given its semi-underdog story that follows the formula to a tee. But just because a film is effective doesn’t make it memorable; the surface-level storytelling means it shouldn't be added to the pantheon of great sports movies.

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The Boys in the Boat is now playing in theaters.

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Movie Review

Halle Berry's comeback falls flat in sparse horror film Never Let Go

Photo courtesy of Lionsgate

Anthony B. Jenkins, Halle Berry, and Percy Daggs IV in Never Let Go.

Halle Berry has been a bankable movie star for over 30 years, dating back to her co-starring role in the 1992 Eddie Murphy film, Boomerang. Lately, though, it feels as if the Oscar winner has been coasting on reputation alone, starring in and directing the middling Bruised, and having lead roles in the forgettable Moonfall and recent Netflix movie, The Union.

She’s looking for a comeback of sorts in the new horror/thriller, Never Let Go. Berry plays Momma, who lives in a cabin in the woods with her two sons, Samuel (Anthony B. Jenkins) and Nolan (Percy Daggs IV). The family doesn’t have access to food other than what they can grow and catch, and it’s clear their supply is dwindling. Matters aren’t helped by the fact that anytime the three of them want to venture outside of the house, Momma insists that they tie a rope to their bodies, which only allows them to go so far.

Momma maintains that there’s an evil presence in the forest, and if they ever let go of their ropes while outside, they will be infected by the evil. Both sons are initially shown to trust fully in their mom’s beliefs, but Nolan soon becomes skeptical and starts testing the boundaries. Is there actually evil all around them, or has Momma succumbed to a mental illness that will bring them all down eventually?

Written and directed by Alexandre Aja, the film initially seems like it will be suspenseful, with Momma and her boys doing whatever it takes to survive, whether there is an actual evil presence or not. But after a solid start, the story starts to become repetitive, as there’s only so much you can do with one location and three characters. While their hunger plight does move the story forward to a degree, it’s not enough to make it fully engrossing.

Then there are the standard, and somewhat silly, scares Aja throws at the audience. Apparitions that only Momma can see appear to her as zombie versions of her dead mother, father, and husband. Since they can’t see them, the boys don’t react in the slightest anytime the ghosts make an appearance, lessening the fear factor. The ghosts also have weird, snakelike tongues that they waggle in what’s supposed to be a menacing way, but the gesture is more comically weird than spooky.

Aja lays a lot of the story on the boys’ shoulders, and even though both actors have decent professional experience at such a young age, it proves to be too much dramatic weight to put on them. The anxiety, uncertainty, and anger that they’re asked to display would be a lot to ask of much older performers, and when they’re occasionally forced into scenes alone, the film grinds to a halt.

Berry has always been a very emotive actor, and while that has served her well in other roles, it doesn’t work at all in this film. Her character is required to be hysterical much of the time, and the lack of warmth or empathy toward the kids makes Momma less interesting. Jenkins and Daggs are good in small doses, but they’re not ready to be the actual stars of a film like this.

It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly where Never Let Go went wrong, but a bit more information or perspectives from outside of the house might have been warranted. As it stands, the film falls flat for most of its running time, a big problem since the point of it would seem to be to make it tension-filled and scary.

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Never Let Go is now playing in theaters.

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