As an actor and a movie star, George Clooney is anything but forgettable. His charm and grit can enliven even terrible movies, and his charisma shines through in every interview and red carpet appearance. Yet as a director, Clooney has built a career on the kind of forgettable, middle-of-the-road fare that's usually the province of anonymous journeymen. More often than not, he's aping the style of more renowned, creative filmmakers. Clooney the director reaches new heights of mediocrity with The Boys in the Boat, a dull, predictable true-life inspirational sports drama that's almost entirely devoid of conflict — or actual inspiration.
There's plenty to admire in the real story of the 1936 U.S. Olympic eight-man rowing team, as chronicled in Daniel James Brown's 2013 book. Both the book and the movie focus on Spokane native Joe Rantz (Callum Turner), an impoverished University of Washington student who tries out for the rowing team simply for the chance to secure a campus job and a place to live. All of Joe's teammates come from similar working-class backgrounds, which stands in contrast to their often upper-crust competition in the elite world of rowing.
That these hard-working, disadvantaged athletes not only defeated their university rivals but also went on to win gold medals at the Olympics is an impressive feat and a worthy subject for a book or documentary (it was depicted in a 2016 episode of PBS' American Experience). Clooney and screenwriter Mark L. Smith fail to find a way to make it interesting as a narrative film, though, struggling to build compelling characters or an engaging plot. Aside from Joe, almost none of the rowers possess any distinctive personality traits, and the only other team member who stands out is notable for being so reserved that he barely speaks.
Joe gets a perfunctory love interest in fellow student Joyce Simdars (Hadley Robinson), whose primary function is to breathlessly follow his rowing exploits, especially once the team leaves Seattle for competitions in other cities, which are broadcast over the radio. It's rather astounding to see how popular rowing was as a sport in the 1930s, with regular attendance of 100,000-plus spectators at regattas — ones that were also broadcast nationally. Clooney breezes past that phenomenon, though, just as he does with nearly every milestone on the way to the team's eventual Olympic victory.
Sticking to the facts may mean that there are no notable defeats to include, but it's hard to view The Boys in the Boat as much of an underdog story when Joe and his teammates start out by winning and just keep barreling past their opponents. There are minor difficulties to overcome, including some university opposition to the untested junior varsity team representing the school at regattas and a last-minute fundraiser needed to get the team to Germany for the Olympics.
Adolf Hitler and the Nazis are likewise presented as mere inconveniences, although Clooney works in an awkward appearance from Jesse Owens to acknowledge the historical impact of these particular Olympics. The boat races lack suspense, and even the natural beauty they showcase on the water has the plastic sheen of a pharmaceutical commercial, rather than the immediacy of an intense athletic competition.
Turner's bland, underwhelming performance as Joe is matched by Joel Edgerton's equally unremarkable presence as rowing coach Al Ulbrickson, who gives half-hearted speeches about teamwork and determination that sound like they were put together by a sports movie chatbot algorithm. At least Clooney could have enlivened that role if he'd played it himself, but he stays behind the camera, robbing The Boys in the Boat of the one worthwhile asset he has to offer. ♦
THE BOYS IN THE BOAT
