Row Your Boat

"Row Your Boat" is an underrated Jon Bon Jovi's movie. It won't change the world or run for the Oscars, but it's a nice and sweet piece of entertainment.

Although is hard to believe that the rockstar Jon Bon Jovi could be a homeless man coming out of the jail, when he starts the romance we all believe that there's the guy who wrote "Always", "Never Say Goodbye" and "I'll be There For You". Jon is always better when he does the loser characters (like "Destination Anywhere" or "Pay It Forward").

I think people should give a chance to this one.

I am a big fan of Bon Jovi the group and of Jon's. This is the 4th of Jon Bon Jovi's movies that I have bought. I thoroughly enjoyed the others but this is really the first one that I stopped thinking of him as Jon and was rooting for "Jamey". From watching his first movies I can see an enormous growth in his acting ability. He was excellent as were the rest of the cast. Jamey was funny, sweet, considerate and loving. From the first of the movie Jamey is trying to go down the straight and narrow to get his life back on track after taking the fall for his brother. But the world and his brother seem in cahoots to bring him down. I will watch this many times as it was well worth the money!

This film was a real find. A truly engaging story and characters you can care about make this a far more rewarding viewing experience than many higher profile, bigger budget films.

Set in New York and dealing with an ex-con's struggle to go straight, this is a sweet, intelligent and moving film. Its central motif is the tragedy of the predicament that Jamey Meadows finds himself in - thoughtful and compassionate, his attempts to re-build his life are pushed down at every stage by his circumstances. The issues of the poverty cycle and the corruption of the vulnerable by the very people who should be protecting them are handled with care and insight, but without the cloying sentimentality so common in modern American cinema. Superbly written, though sadly poorly edited, this is a beautiful look at the struggle between idealism and practicality in today's world. This may sound heavy, but the script is peppered with humor and delivered with a lightness of touch that renders this a thoroughly enjoyable movie.

The cast are commendable, both as individuals and as an ensemble, and the responsiveness of their performances in their interactions with each other lift this movie above the ordinary. Bai Ling's performance is a perfect balance of vulnerability and spiritedness, full of childlike innocence and wonder yet at the same time worn down by the seeming inevitability of life's disappointments. The biggest surprise however is Jon Bon Jovi as Jamey Meadows. Some of his other performances have been stilted and unresponsive, and even his well executed turn in The Leading Man falls short of being truly impressive due to his character's marked similarity to his own public face. In Row Your Boat, on the other hand, Jon Bon Jovi shines. A man of commanding presence and charm when fronting his rock band, Bon Jovi is utterly believable here as a slightly awkward down and out dominated by his older brother. His responsive and committed interactions with the other cast members are what set this performance apart from his others, and credit must be given to the director for drawing out such an impressive performance where other directors have failed.

In all, a gem of a movie which has sadly been overlooked. Its limited release is a real shame.

You had to see the movie to have an opinion, right?

Don't you ever advise anyone not to see a movie, whatever movie it is, for how bad it is.

Movies are made to be seen by everybody, my friend. Worst than your comment is people who refuse to see movies based on others opinions. If you don't want to give money to see it in a theater, fine. And, god, it's an independent movie! As if movies without budget weren't discriminated enough in the cinema business, there are still people that come and say "Oh, I've seen it. S****, don't watch it! It's a friendly advise!" Hope you're not related to cinema in any way. If I judged every movie by the crew and their personal life's, wouldn't likely see most of Collin Farrel's starring ones!

The ones to thank you for that unfortunate comment are ignorants.

I bought ROW YOUR BOAT on DVD at my local Just-A-Buck dollar store almost a year ago and it sat on the shelf unplayed till this past weekend. I had picked it up mainly for my wife, who still carries the torch from her teenage crush on Jon Bon Jovi. I had never seen Jon in an acting role before, but I'll admit that I was pleasantly surprised by his abilities. (However, I have always HATED his fluff-rock band, and I suppose I always will!) Jon stars here as an ex-con who's determined to walk the straight and narrow path after his parole. When we first meet "Jamie" (Jon), he's spending his nights at flophouse hotels or on the streets of Manhattan and trying to avoid the temptation to go back to work for his brother (a genuinely slimy William Forsythe), a small time hoodlum who was the cause of Jon's imprisonment in the first place. Jamie takes a low paying job as an "enumerator" for the US Census Division, which leads to many funny scenes as he trots around bad New York neighborhoods trying to count the various occupants. His census job brings him into contact with a lovely but unhappy Chinese woman (Bai Ling), who is basically a "trophy wife" for a much older Chinese businessman. He offers to give her English lessons and they begin a wobbly but romantic relationship, while his brother's "business" begins to tempt him back into the fold. I'm not going to proclaim this is a great movie but I did enjoy its combination of romantic comedy and crime drama, and the ending is not the one that I'd expected/hoped for. Add in some cool shot-on-location scenes from the gritty side of New York City and you have a cool little film that was definitely worth the dollar I paid for it, which is not something I can say about most of the other "Dollar Store DVDs" in my collection.