The Boys Are Back

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A drama that makes no apologies for tugging at your heart, The Boys Are Back may do exactly what is expected but the performances save it from sinking under the sentimentality and predictability.

Joe Warr (Owen) is a British sports journalist who fell in love with Australian athlete Katy (Fraser) and moved kit and caboodle Down Under, leaving behind wife (Natasha Little) and son Harry (MacKay). Joe and Katy married, had a boy, Artie (McAnulty), and lived happily for six years before Katy was diagnosed with cancer and died. Now the grieving Joe, who wants to be the father to Artie that he wasn't to Harry, allows his son to run wild and do what he wants to do. The house, situated in the picturesque Australian countryside, is in disarray with cleaning and cooking not high on the boys' list. When the teenage Harry comes to stay and Joe resists his attraction to local divorcee Laura (Emma Booth), he begins to wrestle with the grieving process as his ability to be a father and a man are put into question.

First, the bad. The opening sequence - a flashback to when Katy and Joe were happy, so happy, so very, very happy - is a warning shot across the bows as to how this drama will play out. The sequence promises two things: there will be nothing new here but there will be a comfort in the plot's inevitability (That's fine but how about a drama where the happy couple are shown to bicker and argue, and still be happy, like real couples? That not only is there regret of a life lost but a little guilt too? It's a just a thought). The Boys Are Back (which is a silly title) coasts along without getting into the nitty-gritty of things. Bar the scenes in and around Katy's death (the use of Sigur Ros helps), it lacks a big scene, a scene with an emotional punch to match her passing. Katy's mother, Barbara (Julia Blake), who lives nearby and helps out when she can, is wary of Joe's run wild, run free parenting approach but her protests, which are well founded, are muted by director Scott Hicks (No Reservations, Shine) because he, and the movie, are on Joe's side. Adapted from Simon Carr's novel, which is in turn based on true events, The Boys Are Back is essentially Kramer Vs Kramer minus a Kramer.

Now, the good. Despite all this the film works. Owen is fantastic in the lead role; it might not be Oscar material but there's not a lot more one could ask of Owen here, whose screen presence seems to grow with every film he's in. He's backed up by a flawless supporting cast (we're going to see a lot more of George MacKay). Although they might not do anything of interest it's nice to spend time with these three characters, each of them ringing true as a kid, a teenager and a man, as they attempt to find themselves, and each other, in this mess. 'Nice'. That's a word that will pop up now and again in this drama - it's a terribly nice movie filled with nice people who do nice things for each other. Which is nice. The Boys Are Back hopes the audience will leave with a smile and a tear and it just might succeed - it delivers on what it promises. And Kramer Vs Kramer is a great show.