We love an underdog sports drama around these parts, and this one may be the ultimate slobs vs snobs flick, with the slobs being working class rowers and the snobs being literal Nazis, the whole thing taking place circa the 1936 Berlin Olympics. And did we mention its directed by George Clooney? The Leatherheads helmer certainly likes his vintage sports….
How to watch The Boys in the Boat in the UK
The Boys in the Boat is screening in UK cinemas right now.
The Boys in the Boat
What is The Boys in the Boat about?
Clooney’s latest, adapted from the 2013 non-fiction novel of the same title by Daniel James Brown, tells the true (albeit dramatised) tale of the University of Washington junior varsity rowing crew. who would take on Hitler’s blue-eyed übermenschen at the Olympics. Rowing is often seen as an Ivy League kinda sport—remember the Winklevii in The Social Network—but our heroes are hardscrabble young men drawn to the sport by the promise of room, board, and work during the Depression. Among them is Joe Rantz (Callum Turner) , who put himself through high school after being abandoned by his parents and comes into his own under the tutelage of gruff coach Al Ulbrickson (Joel Edgerton). Can they conquer at Berlin? Look, you know how these things go…
The cast of The Boys in the Boat
Along with Callum Turner and Joel Edgerton, we have Jack Mulhern, Sam Strike, Alec Newman, Peter Guinness, Luke Slattery, Thomas Elms, Tom Varey, Bruce Herbelin-Earle, Wil Coban, Hadley Robinson, Courtney Henggeler, James Wolk, and Chris Diamantopoulos.
The Boys in the Boat trailer
What the critics are saying about The Boys in the Boat?
Pretty mixed if we’re being honest, but here’s the thing – about half of ’em are praising the film’s old-fashioned story and Clooney’s classical Hollywood approach to filmmaking, and the rest are damning it for exactly the same reasons. So we guess you can tell from that if this one’s for you or not.
