Picture
Let me preface this review with the confession that I tend to cry easily at sappy moments. Greg made fun of me just the other day for misting up a bit at a stupid AT&T commercial about a lost dog that gets found via texting. No judgment, okay? Anyhow, so when I was walking into a film about a man whose wife dies of cancer very early on into the plot, I braced myself for what was to come. And, surprisingly, no tears came. It’s not that The Boys Are Back isn’t touching—it is. It’s not that the film isn’t hopelessly sweet—it is. It’s not that that precocious Australian boy isn’t endlessly adorable with his floppy hair and smattering of freckles because, by God, he is. It’s just that I couldn’t get deeply invested in this film, but it’s not for the lack of trying on Clive Owen’s or director Scott Hicks’ (Shine) parts. 

Check out the rest of the review after the jump!
Owen plays British sportswriter Joe Warr living in Australia with his second wife Katie and their 6-year-old son Artie. Life is beautiful with pots of flowers in windows, dinner parties, and gorgeous country homes until Katie collapses one day and is diagnosed with multiple tumors throughout her entire body. (I’m not spoiling anything for you—this happens within the first ten minutes, folks.) We then get a sad montage of Joe taking care of his dying wife as Artie plays about, seemingly unaware of the impending doom of his mother’s death. 

When the event actually happens, I expected to immediately start tearing up, but I felt like I didn’t have enough time to get to know Katie before she passed away. I knew almost nothing of their relationship other than Joe spends weeks on end traveling the world for sporting events and that she kept an immaculately tidy home. But when a Sigur Rós track begins to wail as Katie’s body is taken away on a gurney and a single tear runs down Owen’s face, I’d be damned if 99% of the audience didn't have a huge lump in their throats—unless they were robots, of course. Cough cough Greg cough.

The rest of the film deals with Joe coming to terms with life as a single dad, a notion that is so completely foreign to him as he almost seems like the eternal bachelor. We also find out he left his first wife and son in England when his mistress got pregnant. Wait. Hold the phone. And I’m supposed to sympathize with the guy now? Well, shit. So basically Joe isn’t equipped to raise his small son, clean, or cook and adopts a “Just Say Yes” policy that would make all mothers cringe and raises some eyebrows of the female characters in the film. Eventually Joe’s 15-year-old son from his first marriage comes to live with them and all seems okay for a while. 

The Boys Are Back is a well-made film. It’s more than finely acted by Clive Owen, and director Hicks bathes the entire film in a sunshiny glow that you can’t help but long for your own Australian bungalow near the beach. The film looks beautiful. The film also sounds beautiful with a soundtrack by Sigur Rós that definitely tugs on the heartstrings a bit. And both the young boys in the film are cute. But my beef lies with the fact that there isn’t really a huge plot problem in the film that has to be overcome and solved, and it’s maybe a smidgeon on the boring side. Sure, it’s cute to watch the father and his sons scamper about and have fun, but there’s a nagging feeling that the kids will ultimately be fucked up because of the lack of structure. Man, that’s such a woman thing to say, no? Well, it’s based on a true story, so there. 

Another problem of mine was that it seemed like all of Joe’s problems could be fixed by a good maid, which seems to make moms not only appear like the sole capable caretakers in the world but also the cooks and maids of a household. Joe struggles to go grocery shopping for himself, let alone his son, or cook, clean, and do laundry. How come movies depicting single mothers don’t get this kind of Oscar buzz? Oh well.  

But, on the flip side, The Boys Are Back is a delightful film that moves quickly past its initial heaviness. And even with its minor flaws, it will make you smile more than once. Shit, that little boy is so damn cute….

--Darcie Duttweiler
 


Comments




Leave a Reply