Film File - The Boys are Back

'Just say yes' is the philosophy of Joe Warr (Clive Owen), a widower trying to make his chaotic life as a sports journalist marry together with the unexpected demands of bringing up his six-year old son, Artie (Nicholas McAnulty). The scenario is further complicated with the arrival of his other son, Harry (George McKay), from a previous marriage. The story is based on author and parliamentary sketch writer for the UK Independent Simon Carr's memoir about his wife's death and his subsequent challenge in raising two sons, published in 2001. Making the case for fathers as an undervalued role model in the modern family, Carr wrote the account as a personal catharsis and a rallying cry for what he believed was a parenting role overlooked by movies and books over the past 25 years. Like many a refugee from the cold of these northern climes, when Warr moved to Australia after falling in love with Aussie Katy (Laura Fraser), he found the idyllic lifestyle living in a sun-kissed home by the coast. He, like many a sports journalist, is an erudite, opinionated and self-obsessed individual who likes a drink and, as he sometimes has to remind himself, a father as well. Without warning, this perfect life is turned upside down when Katy dies of cancer, leaving him devastated, and faced with the desperate needs of a grieving six-year-old he barely knows. Conscious of losing his position as family head to his ultra-capable mother-in-law Barbara (Julia Blake), who is waiting in the wings to lend support, Warr instead decides to plunge headlong into full-time parenting. Throwing the Dr Seuss handbook out the window, he devises a new strategy for the care of children - 'Just say yes'. As might be expected, this philosophy develops quite a few holes in its fabric - particularly with the arrival of his other son, Harry, into the all-male household - cue all the clichés of men living together. In a word, messy. Very messy. Fighting a rearguard battle with a mother-in-law who sees the set-up as a recipe for family disaster, Warr's life is further complicated by the arrival of Laura (Emma Booth), a mother from his son's school who takes the proverbial shine to him. Rather than ask her out on a date, however, the journalist sees her only as a childminder/skivvy replacement for his deceased better half, and someone adept at cleaning up after his attempt to defrost a chicken in the family bathtub. The ultimate breakdown in control happens when Warr takes an ill-advised time out from his job, only to have his house invaded by scores of teenagers who bring the final curtain down on his attempt at writing his own unique handbook on child-rearing. On the surface,' The Boys Are Back' seems a sentimental vehicle for exposing the soft side of a hard man to the tricky task of parenthood. And while the storyline does, on occasion, veer close to the reefs of treacle, the film is largely saved by good performances and the steady hand of director Scott Hicks, still famous for his Oscar-winning 'Shine' almost 20 years ago. Owen, usually the in-control action man operator in films, is here a more measured player and fairly nails manly grief hidden beneath a gruff exterior. The youngsters' performances are also standout, particularly McAnulty's obvious natural ability allied to his cute good looks. Fraser, as the departed wife, makes a few dreamlike and poignant appearances to her embattled husband - scenes that will threaten the toughest tear ducts.