It's already been 10 years since author Daniel James Brown's 'The Boys in the Boat' was published. At the time, the book immediately staked out its claim as one of the best books that have been written about rowing in the US, and, taking into account all of the angles that Brown covered (The Depression! Collegiate rowing and its rivalries! The Olympics! Nazis!), the tales woven together ticked all of the boxes for Hollywood potential.

Indeed, speculations about a movie version began almost immediately (including on row2k), and as the news broke, a few years ago, that none other than George Clooney had taken on the project, hope abounded that American rowing would finally get its "serious" movie moment.

Well, that moment is here, and rowers who have been to preview screenings have been positive and upbeat about the movie; many have told us they plan to see it again when it opens in theaters.

For the purpose of this review, it's probably best to dispatch the bad news first: in the interest of fitting all of the disparate elements of Brown's epic story into a feature-length film, including Joe Rantz's hard climb from the depths of poverty to rowing at Washington, his arc from rough novice to Varsity standout, Washington's ascent to the pinnacle of American collegiate rowing in the 1930s, all within the pressures of the Great Depression, the filmmakers had to take a few liberties with history. And so, per Hollywood logic, Rantz goes from walk-on novice, to JV and then Varsity rower, to IRA and Olympic champion, in the space of about six months, all in 1936.

In fact, Rantz rowed in the UW Varsity eight as early as 1934; there are a few more glosses that anyone interested in the facts of the story can glean either from Brown's book or from UW's own thorough archive.

Film still, courtesy of MGM Studios

So, what's the good news? The good news is that, compressed timeline and all, the movie does ample justice to the main threads of Brown's story, including the rowing.

'The Boys in the Boat' is above all the story of Joe Rantz; Rantz came to Washington poor, almost destitute, having been abandoned by his parents when he was 14, and, as both the book and the movie make clear, saw rowing less as a sport (and even less as any kind of noble calling), and more as a path to food, shelter, and enough income to pay his tuition.

Actor Callum Turner does a fine, spare turn as Rantz (does he speak more than 30 words in the entire movie?), and it's to screenwriter Mark L. Smith and George Clooney's great credit that they did not give Rantz, counter to character, a grandstanding speech anywhere in the film.

Joel Edgerton also does a fine job as UW rowing coach Al Ulbrickson, as does Peter Guiness as George Pocock (who, in the film is only ever identified as "George," possibly a missed opportunity). It's Guiness who gets the speech that rowers will most enjoy: the "rowing is poetry" moment.

Jack Mulhern steals scenes as the dour stroke of the boat, Don Hume, but also provides for some of the greatest drama as Hume falls ill during the movie's pivotal event, the 1936 Olympics. Hume, despite a high fever, rallies during the Olympic final--as the "kids in the boat" these days might say, "Winning an Olympic final while sick? Don Hume is the GOAT!"

There are a few (and really, just a few) girls among the Boys and the Boats as well; Hadley Robinson solidly carries her role as Rantz's childhood crush (and future wife), Joyce Simdars, and Courtney Henggeler as Al Ulbrickson's wife Hazel is a quiet counterbalance to Edgerton's character.

Jack Mulhern (left) as Don Hume and Callum Turner as Joe Rantz (film still, courtesy of MGM Studios)

The true main character of the film, of course, is the rowing itself. In the advance of the movie's release, much was made of the actors' learning to row properly for the movie, and it's also to Clooney's great credit that he insisted on accuracy here. And, even if the rowing is not perfect, it has been cool to learn that the cast was incredibly excited to be able to row the Berlin sequence at 46 strokes per minute, just as their historical counterparts had done.

As far as other historical verisimilitude goes, the production spared no effort in their sets, boats and equipment (as row2k has reported here and here).

Indeed, the film spends so much time in adoring closeups of the rowing equipment that some rowers may find it triggering--as one viewer of the showing I attended quipped, "They had so many closeups of the oarlocks that I kept worrying that something was going to go wrong with them!" True to rowing, right down to our customary anxieties, indeed.

The historical accuracy of the boats, oars and equipment is impressive (film still, courtesy of MGM Studios)

In terms of rowing backdrops, the river Thames in England labored mightily to become not only Lake Washington, but also the Hudson at Poughkeepsie, and Der Lange See in Grunau, Berlin. Seldom has so little water done so much work in our sport.

It is during the sequences that take place in Berlin that the film truly shines, however; thanks, in part, to 1930s German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl's (infamous) documentary of the '36 Games, Clooney's team had ample historical footage to build on, and they've done so admirably well. (If you are skeptical, watch these clips from the Berlin Olympics before watching 'The Boys in the Boat'--you will be struck by how well the movie replicates the event.)

In short, 'The Boys in the Boat' is not only finally "our" rowing story, but should take its place in the canon of quintessentially American, underdog-driven sports movies.

Maybe more importantly, this may be the bump moment that our sport needs. As the movie's star Callum Turner explained to the "Sports Business Journal," "[Rowing] used to draw hundreds of thousands of people to come watch these races and it was one of the most popular sports in America. If this film inspires a whole new other generation of people, that would be a wonderful thing."

As rowing people, this movie is our hype too--let's not waste it.

Director George Clooney and his team have given us 'our' rowing movie (film still, courtesy of MGM Studios)