The Boys are Back
The Boys are Back is an adaptation of a book written by Simon Carr and it bears the same. The movie is directed by Scott Hicks and the scriptwriter is Allan Cubitt.
Scott Hicks is also the director of the film Shine and in this movie he had gotten most of the things working out fine for him except the story, which in some parts do not work quite well. It is about parenting and challenges that a single parent might face to bring up children; in this story how a parent finds it challenging bringing up his two sons.
The story is about Joe Warr played by Clive Owen who is popular sportswriter moves to Australia and eventually we come to know he has come to live with his second wife Katy played by Laura Fraser and poor dies all of sudden from cancer that leaves Joe with the responsibility to raise his son Artie (Nicholas McAnulty) a 6-year-old boy who cannot accept the fact that his mother is no more. Joe is not used take care of daily household chores and he is also new to parenting, as he was totally engrossed with his work and concentrating on the deadlines.
Joe believes that children should be given utmost freedom. That they need to encounter challenges frequently and that parents need to have complete faith in their potential or capabilities. But Joe’s theory might not sound all that fascinating to many parents. Because, in general, most of the parents accept and follow that along with freedom comes responsibility to handle the liberty you are given and also some discipline and rules to control your child’s erratic behavior.
Yes it is accepted that children do not prefer their parents to always monitor their behaviour or try to rectify them but certain amount of admonishing and rules need to be brought in child raising. But Joe’s theory of uncontrolled freedom can prove to be quite disadvantageous.
Joe starts dating Laura played by Emma Booth who is also a single mother but she has more practical and sorted out principles of parenting unlike Joe who treats his son Artie like college friend but this friendliness does not go well with Artie.
Clive Owen, George MacKay, Nicholas McAnulty in The Boys are Back
Joe’s another son Harry from his first marriage comes to spend his vacation with his father and surprisingly gets along well with his stepbrother Artie. And Harry seems to have a problem with his father’s way of parenting without any rules or control and in some moments Harry tries to be a father to Artie.
Clive Owen is good actor and he has underplayed his normal sexy image maybe to suit the character he is playing in the film. Clive has acted well but the character he plays in the film has let him don to an extent. And the audience cannot digest the ghost scenes of Katy in which she acts as guide and advices him bringing up Artie.
The two boys are cute and have done a commendable job. The film is about the challenges faced by parents while raising the children but somehow it is does not convey this message with conviction and as a result it does have a great impact on the minds of the people.
| Film | The Boys are Back |
|---|---|
| Cast | Clive Owen as Joe Warr Laura Fraser Emma Booth George MacKay as Harry Erik Thomson as Digby Nicholas McAnulty Natasha Little as Flick Emma Lung as Mia |
| Director | Scott Hicks |
| Writers | Simon Carr Allan Cubitt |
| Producers | Greg Brenman Timothy White |
| Runtime | 1 Hour 44 Minutes |
| Rating | 3/5 |
Posted on Sunday, October 11th, 2009 at 8:26 am