Movie Review: Clooney’s ‘Boys in the Boat’ is an underdog saga that’s both stirring and a tad stodgy

Director George Clooney both begins and ends “The Boys in the Boat” on a sun-dappled lake

Director George Clooney both begins and ends “The Boys in the Boat ” on a sun-dappled lake. It’s a seductive sight, calm and soothing, and aptly reflects the ethos of a film that often feels like one has walked into an oil painting: well-crafted, lovely to look at, and rather old-fashioned.

Telling the true-life story of the University of Washington rowing team, a scrappy group that — incredibly — reached the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Clooney has gone for stirring and a bit stodgy, pleasing and a bit predictable. Given the craft involved, this is hardly a fatal flaw. And yet, when Joel Edgerton’s coach character surveys his team at one point and remarks, “We need an edge, Tom,” we think: Ah, yes. A little edge here would be nice.

In place of edge, we do get moments of beauty, especially when the boys get into those boats. Rowing is, though, the last thing on the mind of Joe Rantz (Callum Turner), a homeless college student, when we first meet him.

We’re in 1936 Seattle, deep into the Great Depression. Rantz is trying to learn engineering, but can barely afford to stay afloat, and we’re not talking, for now, about a body of water. Abandoned by his father at 14, he can’t even afford to eat lunch at the university cafeteria, slipping out to a soup kitchen. At the bursar’s office, they give him two weeks to pay his bill.

A fellow student says the crew team is holding tryouts. The prospect holds little interest for Joe until he learns it comes with a paycheck and a cheap room. The only problem: only eight of the hundreds who try out will make the team.