• ALL
  • NEWS
    • GAY MOVIE/ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
    • GAY FILM TRAILERS
    • GENERAL MOVIE NEWS & TRAILERS
  • GAY SHORTS & SERIES
  • REVIEWS
    • GAY FILM REVIEWS
    • CINEMA REVIEWS
    • DVD & BLU-RAY REVIEWS
  • BGPS BLOG
  • COMPS
  • ABOUT
    • Contact Us
    • Join The Team
    • Terms & Conditions
    • Gays On Film – A Short History

Big Gay Picture Show

Taking a look at the world of film through gay eyes - news, reviews, trailers, gay film, queer cinema and more

Taking a look at the world of film through gay eyes - news, reviews, trailers, gay film, queer cinema & more

Jack Goes Boating (DVD)

February 24, 2012 By Tim Isaac Leave a Comment

Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Ryan, John Ortiz, Daphne Rubin-Vega
Director: Philip Seymour Hoffman
Running Time: 91 mins
Certificate: 15
Release Date: February 27th, 2012

Philip Seymour Hoffman makes his directorial debut with a movie version of Robert Glaudini’s play, which he originally helped develop and starred in with his New York theatre company. As well as directing he plays Jack, a rather awkward middle-aged man who gets set up by his friend Clyde (John Ortiz) with his wife’s work colleague, Connie (Amy Ryan).

Connie is a rather neurotic woman, but there seems to be something between her and Jack. Very slowly the two socially maladroit people start to get closer to one another, while the problems between Clyde and his wife Lucy grow.

Jack Goes Boating is a very small scale film, with a nice line in looking at and talking about relationships. There are a lot of nice observations and you can tell this is a film made by actors, who have spent a lot of time delving into their characters and trying to find the most interesting nuances in the situation they’re dealing with. However this is also the film’s flaw, as it has many moments that may make sense to actors who’ve spent a long time overanalysing everything, but seem to come out of left-field and don’t have a huge amount of logic for the audience. It’s also apparent in Hoffman’s direction, as he tends to close in on actorly moments, while slightly ignoring how the film looks from the outside as an overall experience.

That said, for the majority of the running time it’s very watchable and rather sweet (although the literalised metaphor of Jack learning to swim is rather blatant, obvious and hammered over your head), with enough humour that it could almost be described as a quirky comedy. Things only starting to come to bits – as well as turning rather dark – at the final dinner party. As often happens when actors overthink things and nobody is on hand to pull things back, the result is a mix of subtlety bordering on invisibility and the blatant edging towards being utterly over the top.

Hoffman has the potential to be a very good director, but it feels like he could do with spending more time separating being an actor from being a director and also making his films feel slightly more like they’ve left the stage behind. There’s almost a Mike Leigh feel about Jack Goes Boating, but without Leigh’s assured eye for letting actors experiment, but then only using what feels real and makes sense to the observing eye.

It’s an interesting little film, even if it falls short from being a genuinely good one.

The special features consist of an interesting interview with Philip Seymour Hoffman, filmed at a Q&A after a UK screening. He goes into the process of how both the play and film came about, and intriguingly even he thinks that if he ever directs again he wouldn’t want to act too. There are also some interviews with other members of the cast & crew.

Overall Verdict: Philip Seymour Hoffman shows promise as a director, but he perhaps needs to learn how fully distinguish what’s needed as an actor from what’s needed as a director next time around.

Special Features: Q&A With Philip Seymour Hoffman,  Cast & Crew Interviews

Reviewer: Tim Isaac

Wanna share?:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Tumblr
  • Flipboard
  • More
  • Reddit
  • LinkedIn
  • Email
  • Print
  • Pocket
  • WhatsApp
Overall Rating 6outof10

Related

Filed Under: DVD and BLU-RAY REVIEWS

Leave a Reply (if comment does not appear immediately, it may have been held for moderation) Cancel reply

Search this site:

We're Needy, Be Our Friend

RSSTwitterFacebookStumbleUponMySpace

E-maily Stuff

Get the latest in our daily e-mail

Most Recent Posts

Young Hunter Trailer – First teen gay love takes a dark turn into blackmail

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie Trailer – The hit gay, drag West End musical is coming to the screen

Iris Prize Festival LGBT+ International Short Films 2020 – Part 3 (Short Film Reviews)

Iris Prize Festival LGBT+ International Short Films 2020 – Part 2 (Short Film Reviews)

Iris Prize Festival LGBT+ International Short Films 2020 – Part 1 (Short Film Reviews)

The Scottish Queer International Film Festival 2020 Has Opened, & It’s Online Across The UK

The Iris Prize LGBT Short Film Festival Returns Next Week, & It’s Online & Free!

An Apology From Big Gay Picture Show

Win The Miseducation of Cameron Post DVD & Book!

Seventeen Trailer – The vagaries of teen romance erupt in the lesbian-themed film

My Best Friend Trailer – Gay romance flickers between two teen boys

New Sauvage Trailer – The gay prostitute movie that divided Cannes is coming soon

We're Needy, Be Our Friend

RSSTwitterFacebook

E-maily Stuff

Get all the latest from BGPS in our daily e-mail

Blogroll

  • Blinkbox – Gay & Lesbian
  • DoorQ
  • Movie Muser
  • Peccadillo Pictures
  • Peccapics Blog
  • TLA Gay (UK)
  • TLA Releasing (UK)
  • TQS Magazine

Copyright © 2023 Muser Media · Powered by WordPress & Genesis Framework · Log in

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're OK with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Read More Accept Reject
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT