The Boys Are Back
Refreshingly raw and stripped back with not a gun-tote or a stubble-stroke in sight.

The Boys are Back, based on parliamentary sketch writer Simon Carr’s autobiographical novel, sees Clive Owen striking out in a different direction from his usual repertoire of characters, refreshingly raw and stripped back with not a gun-tote or a stubble-stroke in sight. After losing his beloved wife Katy to cancer, sports writer Joe Warr tries to come to terms with his loss, as well as raising their young son Artie single-handed. Having moved to Australia after leaving his first wife for Katy, Joe is soon joined by George, his teenage son from this previous marriage who has flown in from England to visit.

The ‘boys’ of the title must find a way to exist in the world without a wife and mother, and their house soon becomes a ramshackle mess where rules are scarce and fun is the name of the game. Despite his “just say yes” mantra, Joe struggles to keep everyone happy. Artie is still confused and troubled by his mother’s death, George tries to come to terms with how his father left him, and the country, to pursue a new family life, and Katy’s mother Barbara worries about Joe’s alternative parenting skills.

This is demonstrated perfectly in a sequence where Joe leaves the house for the weekend to work, after which some local kids get wind of this parental absence and turn up for a party. Joe must deal with the carnage when he returns, to comfort Artie, deal with an angry George, and face a dressing down from his mother-in-law. He is left floundering in his own life, unable to deal with the demands placed on him by his family and unsure of what he is supposed to do.

Carr’s novel was so moving and straightforward that to produce a film version that remains poignant is quite an achievement. The scenes in which Joe imagines talking to Katy could easily have come off as trite and maudlin but instead are played brilliantly by Owen. Lauren Fraser, who had slightly fallen off the map after a much-hyped appearance in the ridiculous Virtual Sexuality, rises from the ashes of small supporting roles to provide a brief but achingly touching performance as a woman terrified of leaving her family behind.

When asked about the film recently, Simon Carr said: “I think fathers are rather undervalued…I’m not sure that our role in the family has been well explored by novelists and filmmakers over the last 25 years and that [the film] is going to go quite a long way to make up for that.” The Boys are Back delivers an emotionally resonant narrative with clarity and warmth. It is the heart of the film, the often strained but unfailing bond between Joe and his sons, that will see Carr proved right.