2023 - THE BOYS IN THE BOAT, another boring true life story

Another boring true life story.  This makes two in a row I've viewed.  I could probably just cut and paste my last post about Big Eyes into this post and save some time. But I march on.  The Boys in the Boat is about the 1936 University of Washington junior varsity rowing team who went from being considered underdogs in the sport of boat rowing to competing against the Germans in the Berlin Olympics.  Will these plucky lads beat out those nasty Nazi's?  The bigger question should be doesn't anyone remember the film Chariots of Fire anymore?

This film is based on a well regarded book but you would never know it. Apparently the incidents in the film are mostly true but the screenplay presents them in such a way that they come off as a bunch of uninspired cliches.  The film is photographed in that usual movie way where the color is kind of dull.  The intention is to give the film the feeling of watching an old movie.  However  I just kind of doubt people in  the Depression walked around looking like they were color de-saturated characters.  

 

This rowing team is presented like the "Great White Hope" of the Olympics against the Hitler bunch.  However the real star of the 1936 Berlin Olympics was runner Jesse Owens who is only mentioned in passing.  So where's a film about him?

 

I've listened to interviews with the director George Clooney on podcasts.  He seems like a thoughtful smart guy.  He's also a very fine actor in films like The Descendants, Michael Clayton and the funny O Brother, Where Art Thou?.  But for some reason he doesn't seem to be able to bring the intelligence he has shown as an actor to directing films.  When he was planning this film didn't he take a hard look at the story and ask what can I do to avoid the usual cliches in this type of sports story?  Once again this is another film where the production design and costumes are more interesting than the story.

The screenwriter is Mark L Smith, the running time is 124 minutes.