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George Clooney has been a charming and stylish admirer of British culture during this awards season while promoting his latest directorial project, which was partly filmed near his home in Henley-on-Thames. Unfortunately, the film falls short in comparison, lacking the same impact. It tells a dull and didactic story of an underdog varsity sports team during the Great Depression, reminiscent of Clooney’s 2008 film Leatherheads but without the comedic elements. Strangely, the film seems to constantly urge us to feel nostalgic and sentimental about a time and place that no one involved could truly remember or connect with.
The film recounts the true tale of a determined group of nine individuals from the modest University of Washington who fought to qualify for the Olympic rowing championship in Berlin in 1936, overcoming disdain from elite Ivy League peers and deceitful tactics from the Nazi regime. Screenwriter Mark L Smith, known for his work on Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant, has adapted the best-selling book of the same name by Daniel James Brown, with George Clooney as director. Joel Edgerton portrays the stern and reserved coach Al Ulbrickson, who makes the bold decision to bring his young and talented junior crew to the Olympics instead of the more experienced seniors, and faces backlash from snobbish officials in the US rowing community who would rather see privileged east coast athletes represent America. (Some may recall the Winklevoss twins, portrayed as arrogant elitists in David Fincher’s The Social Network, who also came from a rowing background at Harvard.)
Callum Turner, an actor from Britain, portrays the role of Joe Rantz – a young boy who comes from a broken family and often faced hunger during his education. To support his studies, he takes up rowing. Peter Guinness plays George Pocock, a boatbuilder who is also from Britain. Jyuddah Jaymes portrays Jesse Owens in Berlin, who politely explains to his white teammates that he is running to prove a point against the discrimination in America rather than Germany. Daniel Philpott has a small cameo as the Führer, displaying a Mel-Brooks-esque performance as he grumbles and scowls at the success of the United States.
The overall impact is strong and obvious, with intense racing scenes that play with the audience’s expectation that one of these competitions will involve the character-building experience of losing. The Poughkeepsie Regatta includes the impressive (and historically accurate) sight of spectators being carried on a converted railway carriage alongside the river. However, the dialogue scenes are often overly dramatic, resembling a comic book and lacking in emotional depth. When Joe has a chance encounter with his love interest Joyce (Hadley Robinson), their flirtatious conversation in what appears to be a library is so loud that other extras are distracted from their reading. The inner thoughts of Coach Ulbrickson are uninteresting and the talented actor Edgerton is not given enough to work with.
This could be considered a movie that embodies the nostalgic essence of classic Hollywood films like Knute Rockne, All American from 1940, where Ronald Reagan played the courageous football star George “the Gipper” Gipp. In comparison, George “the Cloonster” Clooney has the ability to deliver a much stronger performance; however, this film comes across as a robotic exhibit in a museum.
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Source: theguardian.com
