they're on a boat

George Clooney steers The Boys in the Boat into old-fashioned crowd-pleaser

As an actor, George Clooney has earned much acclaim in his career thanks to roles in ER, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Ocean’s Eleven, Michael Clayton, and others. As a director, the results have been decidedly mixed, ranging from the highs of the Oscar-nominated Good Night, and Good Luck to the lows of the little-seen Leatherheads.

His latest directorial effort, The Boys in the Boat, falls somewhere between those two extremes. It follows Joe Rantz (Callum Turner), a University of Washington student struggling – like many others – through the Great Depression in the 1930s. More as a way to earn money to afford to eat and stay in school, Rantz tries out for the junior varsity of the university’s rowing team, one that has a storied history.

Naturally, Rantz makes the team, joining seven others who are soon be pushing the varsity members for dominance. Coach Al Ulbrickson (Joel Edgerton) is faced with a dilemma, as the JV team wins race after race against other schools, and also consistently beats the varsity team during practice. With the 1936 Olympics looming, will he give the upstarts a chance to compete for a spot in Berlin, or stick with the tried-and-true?

Working from a script by Mark L. Smith (based on the book by Daniel James Brown), Clooney turns the film into an old-fashioned crowd-pleaser, with an emphasis on old-fashioned. Some of that, of course, has to do with it being a period film, one where the male athletes are the unquestioned heroes and women like Joe’s girlfriend Joyce (Hadley Robinson) and Coach Ulbrickson’s wife Hazel (Courtney Henggeler) are there to support their men, and little else.

Photo by Laurie Sparham

Callum Turner and Jack Mulhern in The Boys in the Boat.

The film does make a few cursory attempts at giving the story extra meaning, with scenes showing just how difficult life was for many during the Depression, although Joe’s financial woes magically become non-existent once he joins the team. This lack of introspection also reveals itself late in the film when – spoiler alert! – the team makes it to the Olympics, giving Joe and a teammate a chance to talk to Jesse Owens (Jyuddah James). The moment is so brief and so overly loaded with significance that it comes off as laughable.

The film is at its best when focusing on the boat races, each of which are staged with a nice energy despite having predictable outcomes. Clooney and cinematographer Martin Ruhe use all the tricks in the book to make the races watchable, from switching back-and-forth often from the boats to the fans watching or listening on radio, to lightning fast editing showing the efforts of the rowers.

Turner, who’s been on the rise in the past decade, does well in the lead role, giving off an aw-shucks demeanor belied by his good looks and athleticism. Edgerton plays the gruff-but-lovable coach exactly as you’d hope. Both he and Turner are buoyed by their love interests, with Robinson and Henggeler making the most of their thankless roles. Character actor Peter Guinness puts in yeoman’s work as the team’s boat builder/guru.

It’s easy to see The Boys in the Boat succeeding with audiences given its semi-underdog story that follows the formula to a tee. But just because a film is effective doesn’t make it memorable; the surface-level storytelling means it shouldn't be added to the pantheon of great sports movies.

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The Boys in the Boat is now playing in theaters.

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Movie Review

Over-the-top thriller The Housemaid revels in camp, chaos, and excess

Photo courtesy of Lionsgate

Amanda Seyfried and Sydney Sweeney in The Housemaid.

Both Amanda Seyfried (the upcoming The Testament of Ann Lee) and Sydney Sweeney (Christy) are starring in movies with Oscar ambitions this year. By sheer coincidence, the two actors are also co-starring in The Housemaid, a thriller coming out within weeks of their more ambitious works, one that is likely to be seen by many more people than those prestige plays.

Sweeney is given top billing as Millie, a down-on-her-luck ex-convict looking to land any type of job so as not to break her parole. She finds a too-good-to-be-true lifeboat with Nina (Seyfried), who hires her to be a housemaid for her large house on Long Island, where she lives with her husband, Andrew (Brandon Sklenar), and daughter, Cecilia (Indiana Elle).

After a warm interview, Nina almost immediately becomes highly erratic, whipping back-and-forth between happy-go-lucky and rageful. It seems clear that Nina is suffering from mental health issues, as she’ll often accuse Millie of misplacing or stealing items that she didn’t take. Andrew, apparently used to Nina’s tirades, tries to protect Millie from the worst, something that grows increasingly difficult as Nina ups the ante.

Directed by Paul Feig (A Simple Favor) and adapted by Rebecca Sonnenshine from the bestselling book by Freida McFadden, the film is likely the trashiest mainstream movie to come out in 2025. The first half of the movie relies not on story but on moments as Nina embodies the word “hysterical” to an unbelievable extent. The resigned acceptance of the abuse by Millie, as well as the saintly patience of Andrew, make almost every scene laughable, as nobody seems to be acting anywhere close to how a person would normally react to such extreme situations.

The scenes and the performance of Seyfried are so over-the-top, in fact, that it’s clear that the filmmakers are in on the joke. It’s next to impossible not to have a little bit of fun while watching the actors react to outrageous incidents as if nothing is out of the ordinary. The worse Nina acts, the more Millie and Andrew retreat into their chosen roles, and the funnier the film becomes.

Fans of the book will know that the story changes course, eventually turning into a more stereotypical thriller that also has some relatively gnarly visuals to offer. But the trashiness continues, with Sweeney’s, um, assets repeatedly on display in both clothed and unclothed ways. The sex appeal of the R-rated movie makes it an outlier, as recent studio films have shied away from asking their big stars to disrobe completely.

Both Seyfried and Sweeney are far from their Oscar hopeful roles here. Seyfried is given free rein to act as brazenly as she pleases, and she takes full advantage of that ability. Sweeney seems to have been told to be much more reserved, and unfortunately that results in too many wooden line readings. Sklenar continues his breakout streak (It Ends with Us, Drop) with a role that allows him to show more range than either Seyfried or Sweeney.

The Housemaid is an unusual type of movie to be released at a time of year when most films are either those aiming for awards or more family-friendly fare. Despite its many flaws, it’s still an enjoyable watch that features a variety of crazy scenarios not typically seen in movies nowadays.

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The Housemaid is now playing in theaters.

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