Jack Goes Boating

A slow, quiet, kitchen sink style drama. Philip Seymour Hoffman's directorial debut offers predictably high-quality acting, but equally predictable plotting that undermines some solid work from the Oscar-winning actor.

The hype…
The directorial debut of acclaimed actor Philip Seymour Hoffman, this adaptation of a successful stage play promises a quiet, thought-provoking character study driven by quality acting. But questions remain over how cinematic this simple story of love and loneliness can be.

The story…
Jack (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is a lowly limo driver in New York City. A shy, retiring kind of guy, he doesn't get out much. But his best friend, and fellow chauffeur, Clyde (John Ortiz) is about to set him up on a blind date.

Connie (Amy Ryan) is just returning to the dating scene after an abusive relationship, and Jack could be just the kind of simple, sensitive guy she needs. But as their romance blossoms, old tensions are surfacing between Clyde and his wife Lucy (Daphne Rubin-Vega).

As Jack learns to swim and cook in preparation for the ideal date with Connie, we are forced to ask ourselves: can they overcome their respective demons and find true love, or will the weight of their personal problems ultimately drag them down into destruction?

The breakdown…
As an adaptation from a stage play and the directorial of a renowned actor in Philip Seymour Hoffman was always going to be an actor-driven drama. Each of the four leading cast members is required to gradually drip-feed us subtle details of their characters' unique emotional DNA, and we're pleased to report that they all succeed.

The trouble is that the events in which their lives are gradually laid bare are slow, boring and uninspired.

Seymour Hoffman's Jack is supposed to be a kind, simple man. He has very few ambitions, he likes reggae 'because it sounds happy', and he slowly learns to cook and swim in order to impress the lovely Connie. The trouble is that his slow, systematic approach to life is so clean and dull that it is almost impossible to believe in, let alone be absorbed by.

There are times when his idiosyncrasies border on autistic, but Hoffman's attempt to play them up without ever verging onto the subject of mental illness (which the script does not do at all) finds an awkward middle ground that vacillates between uninteresting and just slightly wrong.

Meanwhile, the more combustible drama that sees Clyde gradually crumble under the strain of coping with Lucy's past infidelities does provide a little more tinder to the mix, but it's hardly treading on new ground.

By the time the characters have shuffled their way to the 'explosive' finale, it's not hard to guess exactly what will happen. After the attempts at slowly, carefully peeling back the layers of these damaged lives, the script suddenly smashes them open in an obvious series of mishaps that neither change the characters, nor reveal anything exciting or new in them.

Still, the film exudes a taut, gloomy atmosphere in which Hoffman the director can play up the skills of his cast (especially himself) and contain the material in the confined spaces in which it works best. It's just a shame that the best of the material doesn't live up to that of its star and director.

The verdict…
Some quality acting and atmospheric cinematography can't quite salvage this small-scale human drama which crawls its way to a predictable and unsatisfying ending.

Rating: 2/5

'Jack Goes Boating' is due to be released in the UK on 4 November. Certificate: 15.