The boys are back tells the story of Joe Warr (Clive Owen) - a dry, cynical British sports journalist who is never short of a quip. He lives the ideal ex-pat lifestyle in regional South Australia with his beautiful Australian wife Katy and their son Artie. When Katy suddenly dies, Joe is left to his own devices with his small son. He really does not know how to cope with his grief or how to bring up a child. His initial response is to spoil Artie rotten but pretty soon Artie is running wild and Joe's parents-in-law are not happy. Joe needs to toughen up and brighten up but he is also trying to juggle his journalism career and there doesn't seem to be enough room for anything else. When he meets local woman Laura, there is an instant attraction but Joe can't seem to let go of the past and open himself up to another woman. Meanwhile, his teenage son Harry (George MacKay), from a previous marriage, has arrived from the UK and has landed on his doorstep. So now he has to look after two boys, one a teenager who doesn't particularly like him. Joe needs to learn how to become a father and not a friend.
Special Agent Matti
Ok girls, get out those tissues: you're gonna need them.
The only thing more attractive than a sexy man is a sexy man with kids and a dead wife. Talk about ovulating on demand. And then there are the foreign genes he's bringing in, improving the local gene pool in what is, and let's be honest, a bit of a backwater: Adelaide. Still, they have some nice scenery.
The best thing about Clive Owen's unprepared single dad is that he doesn't go over to the dark side like Dustin Hoffman's edition in Kramer vs Kramer. He doesn't get tidy, he doesn't get organised, he doesn't get healthy. He stays a bloke. Go, you good thing! That whole masculinity thing adds to the rawness of the movie because our protagonist has to cope with having his heart ripped out while somehow raising two boys in need of their father's attention. Like I said, take your tissues.
The Australia, drama, UK movie The boys are back is directed by Scott Hicks and stars Clive Owen, Emma Booth, Nicholas McAnulty.
M (Mature themes, sexual references and coarse language)
104 minutes (1:44 hours)
Film: 12 November 2009
