Review of The Boys Are Back (2009) by Katherina B — 23 Nov 2009

The Boys Are Back is based on the memoir by Simon Carr, who found himself raising two young sons singlehandedly, and occasionally making a complete hash of it.

Sportswriter Joe Warr (Owen) would appear to be living the ideal life: he and his second wife Katy (Fraser) are the parents of a young son, Artie (McAnulty), and while Joe's job keeps him away from home a fair bit he's still a loving husband and father.

But when Katy dies, Joe is left feeling adrift--he's mourning the loss of his wife while coming to grips with his new duties as a single-parent, a job he's not all that sure how to perform. And just as he's finding his feet as a father, he's visited by Harry (MacKay), his teen-age son from his first marriage. And it becomes clear that if the boys are ever going to become men, Joe, the father is going to have to grow up as well.

A surface reading of The Boys Are Back could give the impression it's a sickly-sweet story of personal growth or, even worse, a tacky tale of Peter Pan who learns to straighten up and fly right for the sake of the kids.

Yet Shine director Scott Hicks handles this delicate- adaptation of Carr's memoir, capturing the turbulent rush of emotions that overcome Joe, as he doesn't excuse Joe's mistakes but sensitively convey his main character's state of mind. And it doesn't hurt that Owen's understated and perhaps 'truthful' performance gives the audience just as much insight to Joe's sadness, frustration, hope and joy as he embarks on his new life as a family man.