The Boat Builder

Christopher Lloyd is a delight. The story is predictable but the life of the old man, his work, and his dream resonates.

I began watching this movie with the assumption it was going to be a simplistic feel-good movie. Though my expectations were low I was up for something that offered hope and happiness. Little did I know it would be a trial. The only reason I continued to view this movie is because of my admiration for Christopher Lloyd's willingness to provide such a quality performance despite the painfully poor acting around him and weak script.

The story is oft told of the grumpy codger whose rough edge is chiseled away by a child who has social issues of his/her own. So this story is not unique. The script is not only unoriginal, it is forced, awkward, and immature as if it was written by one of my middle school students. The acting (Lloyd being the exception) is unnatural, robotic, and lacks any convincing emotion.

Was this an improv? The only guidance for every character in the story seems to be, "do whatever you want - there are no consequences for any action you take."

In IMDB and other film review channels there is 'The Plot' & often 'The Plot Summary'. The plot for this film is so weak that they are one and the same! The film is very linear from beginning to end. Old hermit building a sailing sloop as his lifetime hobby. He has no need of people and enjoys his own company. Local kids tease him. One young kid befriends him. They complete the boat together. The boat is launched (you don't see any of these completions or launch - the film budget must have been like < $10k). Then the old hermit, Captain Crazy finds that the young boy stowed away on the boat but is not too unhappy about it. The film ends. It's kind of like.... I went to the beach, I dug a hole, I played in the water, I drank lemonade, I went home. If this film receives scores of 1 or 2 I can understand it. Each actor played his or her part like they were forced into do it under duress. I've still given it 6/10 and that is only because this could be Christopher Lloyd's penultimate self performance. After all he is 80 years old now.

I watched this movie solely to see another performance by Christopher Lloyd. He is a wonderful, talented actor.