Film Review - The Boys in the Boat (2024)

The Boys in the Boat is directed by George Clooney and is based on the true story of the University of Washington Rowing team going to the 1936 Berlin Olympics but in 1930s America the Great Depression has hit hard in Seattle and their coach (Joel Edgerton) will have to push his young team hard if their going to succeed against all the odds.

The Boys in the Boat is a movie that I really enjoyed and the main reason for that is I felt that it was simply a good story well told, George Clooney as a director has been VERY hit and miss for me and I’ve been a big fan of his for a long time but both the Monuments Men in 2014 and Suburbicon in 2017 were awful films that didn’t work for me at all but this one does and he does a good job managing the balance of the dramatic scenes and the rowing scenes, the final race in particular is very well done and it had me tense there for a little bit as well.

Also worth noting is the music score by Alexandre Desplat who delivers another solid score even if it isn’t as good as his score for Greta Gerwig’s Little Women in 2019.

Next is Joel Edgerton’s performance, now he might be still doing that quasi American accent he started doing in the Great Gatsby in 2013 but it worked there and it works here, he’s been an underrated talent for a fair while now and Clooney puts him to good use here, I also enjoyed Peter Guiness as the boat maker for the university rowing team and he plays the mentor part well.

But the ones who really shine are the young cast, Callum Turner and the others members of the rowing team (I’m afraid I forgot the other actors names) work very well and the way they worked as a group and in their individual scenes I was reminded of the movie Memphis Belle from 1990 which starred Matthew Modine and Harry Connick Jr among others and that film dealt with young men in a WW2 bomber whereas this is about a rowing team before WW2 starts but they felt similar to me in terms of being young men with dreams and desires and wanting to do their country and their loved ones proud.

And so that was the Boys in the Boat and it isn’t the best movie you’ll see but it’s one that I really enjoyed, 3 and a half out of 5.