Something to watch tonight: Tuesday 7 January
The Boys in the Boat (Clooney, 2023)
This is the time of year where you may find yourself having to cater for houseguests. It’s not easy trying to find something to watch of an evening where your audience might be kids, grandparents, old friends, new acquaintances. You get my drift.
This time last year, I reviewed George Clooney’s The Boys in the Boat when it made a brief visit to local cinemas and I have a feeling that this one could cover all those bases above:
… an utterly amiable historical sports story that provides pleasures mostly through what it doesn’t do. There’s no cursing, it prioritises romance over sex, the heroes have no dark side and the politics contains nothing to disagree with. While I like to be challenged in a cinema, sometimes I appreciate not being challenged, and The Boys in the Boat delivers on that.
Based on the American bestselling history book of the same name, the film is the underdog story of the Washington State eight-man rowing crew in 1936 who, against the odds, went from utter rowing novices to the final of the Olympics in Nazi Germany.
Recruited from a ragtag bunch of undergraduates – many of whom were desperate for the scholarship and the security that the team would provide – the group are coached by taciturn Joel Edgerton who soon discovers that they are a stronger crew than his seniors and who risks humiliation for the school by promoting them to number one position.
The background is the Depression, still clinging on in the Pacific Northwest where unemployment and homelessness remains rife. Washington is also an unfancied school, punching above their weight against the Ivy Leagues with all their money and influence.
You can read the rest here.
Where to watch The Boys in the Boat
Worldwide: Streaming on Prime Video