The Boys in the Boat – A Derivative Sports Underdog Story

Underdog stories in film, especially true ones, have often revolved around the world of sports. It makes sense because audiences inherently want to root for an underdog as they overcome their respective circumstances and achieve whatever kind of success they set out for. When well executed, they can elicit an emotional connection with audiences and have them invested in their stories and their ultimate outcomes. That being said, after rooting for so many underdogs as they seemingly face the same set of challenges over and over again, the emotional impact of those journeys begins to become devalued. To what degree this happens depends on audiences and when it comes to The Boys in the Boat, this continues to be the case. While still well executed, the film is composed of the same character archetypes as it goes through those same paces and story beats. The result is an incredibly derivative and predictable that offers absolutely no avenue for emotional investment whatsoever. There is simply no reason to care about any of its characters or story. Though not necessarily the film’s fault, perhaps audiences are burnt out rooting for underdogs. In the end, the film is fine but fails to do anything that makes it stand out in any way. Those invested in the source material may find something here, however, it is otherwise forgettable.

Based on the book of the same name by Daniel James Brown, The Boys in the Boat takes place in the Depression-era 1930’s and tells the story of the University of Washington’s rowing team for whom, despite the lack of means compared to the more established teams, fielded an 8-man team of misfits that would go on to win the gold at the 1936 Berlin olympics. The film had characters with their own stories but they existed purely through the context of establishing stakes. Beyond moments of camaraderie that were surely meant to be endearing, there was nothing else to them. The sole intent was to move the story along and check off all the prerequisite milestones along the way, thus setting the stage for the story’s inevitable conclusion. Those milestones of course included the usual moments of personal and group adversity to also make them endearing and relatable to audiences with the ultimate goal of furthering them towards to that inevitable conclusion. While somewhat entertaining, for the most part, the repetitiveness of these derivative moments adds up quickly. When the outcome is never in doubt, it leaves little room for emotional investment.

Though lacking narratively, the film is at least well presented, minus instances of bad CGI. It looks decent and sounds decent but its powerful score is just as generic as the plot. For a film about rowing, at least it gets that right. Except for the aforementioned instances of bad CGI, the rowing scenes were well shot, creating the intimacy and intensity of being on the water and in the middle of a race. However, there wasn’t nearly enough of those moments, leaning too much on its thin characters. If it had worked more on the latter, it would have only added to the former. Ultimately, if the film could be described in one word, it would be fine. While it isn’t necessarily good or bad, the film lands somewhere in the middle. While the direction, writing, and performances are fine, they can’t save it from being dull though some will find some redeeming qualities in spite of its derivative nature.

At the end of the day, The Boys in the Boat is yet another sports underdog movie with seemingly no aspirations to stray from the same formula, for better or worse.

still courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.