Why Peter Pan Never Became a Dad

The Boys are Back delivers Fun and Pain through Realistic Emotions

By Morgan P Salvo

When I see that a movie even looks remotely sugar coated and touching I high-tail it—I can’t abide by phony sentimental feel-good or feel-sad movies just for the sake of eliciting sappy emotions from its audiences. But then again I‘ve been duped by the Kramer vs. Kramers, Terms of Endearments and the I am Sams of the world. It’s not that bad if handled in a way that expands the horizons of realism, usually accompanied by some decent acting by its main stars. Let’s face it--- there really are touching moments in real life. In the case of realism, superb acting and highly felt emotions, The Boys are Back delivers all three.
Sportswriter Joe Warr’s (Clive Owen) beautiful and loving wife Katy (Laura Fraser performing her roles via flashbacks) dies unexpectedly from cancer leaving him with son Artie (Nicholas McAnulty) to fend for themselves. Katy’s parents live close by to add tension to Joe’s decision of a free-form lifestyle. All are in a state of grief, working it out in their own specific and dysfunctional ways. A few other characters enter to further complicate things, including Harry (George MacKay), Joe’s son from his first wife who comes to visit and a younger mom, Laure (Emma Booth) from Artie’s school becomes interested in Joe and Artie’s plight. Recovery is the emotional thread for all.
Focusing on deep-seated pain through loss of a loved one, this flick stirs the pot. Each scene is generated with simplistic grace, accented with music by Sigur Ros and shot in Australia. Taken from Simon Carr’s novel and stripped down to an almost claustrophobic feel, director Scott Hicks (Shine) tells this story in a most sincere and honest way, relying heavily on straightforward dialogue. The frank conversations about death have a weird calm about them. No one lies but the biggest mistake is withholding information. The candid conversations between all characters suggest a feeling of cleansing. Underlying everything is the desire to do the right thing. Joe must come to grips with his immaturity no matter how painful. This is the journey of how a stay-away Dad has to become a stay-home Dad and make things work. Dad’s rule reigns supreme by saying yes to everything. This works only to a point as the avalanche of too much fun takes its toil; with garbage to take out and dishes to clean soon there’s an unruly pig sty. Abandoning the responsibly of parenting eventually dictates that some order must come to the chaos. Peter Pan must grow up
The acting by everyone is phenomenal. McAnulty shows a range of a happy and disturbed kid brilliantly, Mackay excels as the teenager with inner turmoil simmering just underneath the skin, Booth shows her pain in just the bat of an eyelash and Julia Blake as Barabara (Katy’s mom) commands the screen expressing the sadness through the eyes of a grieving bitch and the sorrow of a mother whose lost her child. But the movie belongs to Owen who travels through an unending amount of emotions expressing each one luminously. The scope of his pain eventually resulting in some sort of extended happiness through any lesser actor would’ve entered the aforementioned sappy territory. This also proves a theory I had as to why Clive Owen turned down the James Bond role. The decision not to get pigeon-holed as 007 pays off when seeing him take on the complicated nuances of Joe.
Hanging on to solid dynamics, Boys plays it straight, reaping in the rewards of a compelling heartfelt true and realistic story about love, loss and coming to grips. Might be a tad bit hokey in the end but then sometimes it is in real life too.

The Boys are Back
Starring Clive Owen, Nicholas McAnulty, George MacKay, Emma Booth, Laura Fraser
Directed by: Scott Hicks
 2 ¾ stars