How can someone take complete care of someone else without knowing how to take care of himself? It's easy to assume that parents know exactly what they're doing as soon as a child is born, but this is decidedly not the case. "The Boys are Back" tries to address these issues and succeeds most of time, largely thanks to an incredible performance by Clive Owen.
This film is the latest by Scott Hicks and is based on the novel of the same name by Simon Carr. The plot revolves around Joe Warr (Owen), an accomplished sportswriter living in Australia. He is usually away for weeks at a time covering sporting events, giving him little time to spend with his wife and son at home. Everyone seems to be satisfied with this family dynamic until Joe's wife is unexpectedly diagnosed with cancer and dies shortly thereafter.
Joe is left without a wife, tasked with running a home he has never run and a son he hardly knows. After struggling to deal with his own grief and the grief of his son, Artie (Nicholas McAnulty), he develops a parenting philosophy: "Just say yes." Joe lets Artie do whatever he wants, as long as Joe deems it within reason, in order to be happy.
Pretty soon, the house is a mess and the adults around him are questioning his parenting techniques. The situation becomes more complex when Harry (George MacKay), Joe's son from a previous marriage in England, decides to come and stay with him. Suddenly, Joe is facing the challenge of raising two sons in desperate need of a father figure, despite his relative cluelessness of what it means to be a good parent.
The first thing to say is that this is a heavily emotional film. Viewers feel the characters' pain, particularly early on in the movie. It's heartbreaking to watch as Joe tries to conceal his tears when he is talking to his son over the phone. But these deep feelings of loss and heartache, while giving the movie its emotional base, can wax too melodramatic at times.
That's not to say the movie lacks any cheerful and heartwarming moments but the characters revert from laughing back to brooding far too quickly.
The film sometimes focuses too much on its characters' problems and not enough on fixing them. When it comes, the final resolution is far too sudden to do justice to the characters' journey — in part because the audience is told how things resolve, rather than shown.
All that said, Owen is phenomenal in this film; his performance alone is worth the price of admission. His character displays an incredible emotional depth Owen has never mastered before. One of the most memorable scenes is his meeting with his son's new teacher; he begins to ramble about life at home and his own personal grieving, only to learn that the woman he revealed his deepest thoughts and concerns to was not actually his son's teacher. He shows a fear and vulnerability we saw briefly in "Children of Men" (2006), but it is taken to another level here in a performance that constitutes a highlight of his career thus far.
No one else's performance is as engrossing as Owen's, but there are some solid supporting actresses and actors. Julia Blake is terrific as Joe's mother-in-law, a woman who is heartbroken by her daughter's death and is now skeptical of Joe's ability to raise her grandsons by himself. Emma Booth is also impressive as Joe's friend and eventual love interest. She is sweet and caring, and clearly frustrated by Joe's laissez-faire attitude and lack of confidence.
These two individuals provide a nice counterbalance to Joe's personality, and challenge him in a way that only other adults can. The work behind the camera is also admirable, as Hicks combines closeups and beautiful shots of the Australian landscape with tremendous emotional power.
Overall, "The Boys are Back" is a competent movie elevated to a memorable one by Owen's Oscar-worthy performance. This film shows that not only do children learn from their parents, but parents are constantly learning from their children. Like its main character, the film has several flaws — but it does enough things right to merit attention and praise.
