The Boys in the Boat
The Boys in the Boat
A 1930s-set story centered on the University of Washington's rowing team, from their Depression-era beginnings.
Kevin Ward reviewedJuly 2, 2025
The Boys in the Boat skims the surface without creating much wake. That is to say, that while Clooney has delivered a very straightforward underdog sports story, it felt like he was playing things very, very safe, when this could have been so much more than that. There are layers of interesting context that could have been added regarding the 1936 Olympic Games being held in Nazi Germany. A radio broadcast mentions the US crew team consciously opted not to salute the German flag at the opening ceremonies, but this moment isn’t depicted on screen. There’s a brief nod to Jesse Owens, but no context is given. The stakes could have been so much higher than ‘poor team beats rich teams.’
Honestly, everything that is depicted is just fine, even if the film feels even longer than it actually is. The competition scenes are tightly composed with a stirring Alexandre Desplat score. Callum Turner as rower Joe Rantz and Joel Edgerton as coach Ulbrickson are both turn in strong performances. It’s what’s not depicted here that is somewhat disappointing.
That being said, the audience at the packed screening I saw this at, seemed to love it. A couple notes on that. 1. The story of that UW crew team has obviously reached legendary status in the state of Washington. 2. The average age in the audience was about 72 years old. Still, I wasn’t expecting 90% of the audience to clap and cheer at the finale, but they did.
I’m still not really sold on Clooney as a director, so maybe a safe, down the middle, crowd-pleaser is a good outcome for this film.