I love this movie so much

Wonderful character development!

Great Film overall

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Joe Warr (Clive Owen) is a sportswriter who suffers his wife's death. All of a sudden, he's left with two boys to raise. Instead of dealing with his grief and anger, he takes off with the boys on a reckless trip with the philosophy of "just say yes".This is a hard film to watch mainly because Joe is unable or unwilling to deal with his wife's death. The sons don't improve the situation. The younger son is too bratty, and the older son is too pathetically weak. It is truly frustrating to watch this dysfunctional family. It does improve as they conflict with each other, and they start dealing with their issues. But unless you like emotional punishment, this film isn't for you.

Scrumptious cinematography, intimate camera-work, some naturalistic child acting and some moments of raw emotion elevate Scott Hicks' "The Boys Are Back", an otherwise conventional film which sees Clive Owen playing a sports writer who attempts to cope with the death of his wife. Much of the film finds Owen and his kids grieving, struggling to bond, and failing to balance personal agendas.The film heavily evokes Anthony Minghella's "Truly, Madly, Deeply" (particularly some sequences in which Owen talks to his ghostly wife), but Hicks' style keeps things fresh. His plot may be innately melodramatic, even saccharine, but the film's gentle camera-work and "poetic" editing helps downplay this.7.9/10 – Style elevates formula. Worth one viewing.

Clive Owen, I find, utterly boring. His voice, his eyes, his mannerisms--boring. This storyline was plain DRIVEL for me. I am probably the only one who feels this way about Clive, but I just don't get him--ever. And especially in this pathetic presentation. It played like a 1960s 'made of TV' or 'Lifetime Movie'. I don't need 10 lines to re-express, but for whatever reason, IMDb has this '10 line' minimum requirement. Sorry, I even took the time, but I wasted my time by watching this thing, and felt I deserved to voice my opinion. I suppose 'boring' was not exactly correct. Perhaps ANNOYING would be a better choice.

If Clive Owens accepted the role of Joe Warr (based on the autobiography of Simon Carr) as an attempt to break away from his type casting as a blood and thunder action hero, he at least proved that he is able to step beyond his usual screen presence. Though the story of a happily married sports writer to a beautiful young second wife Katy (Laura Fraser), enjoying their one child Artie (Nicholas McAnulty), who abruptly becomes a single parent when Katy dies from metastatic carcinoma, placing him in the uncomfortable position of becoming a single parent, is not unique among the tearful novels that have also made their way to the screen, this film survives on the quality of the cast. Not only does Joe have to overcome the treacherous terrain of tending to housekeeping along with the tenuous gap that occurs when a parent dies and the remaining parent must tend to the grief of the remaining child, but he also must cope with the young Harry (George McKay), his son by his first marriage in England (his second family is in Australia) who feels deserted and asks to come to live with Joe and his half brother Artie. The film lingers over the madness of a household of males, tinkers with tricky problems with inlaws and his exwife, but in the end the message is that with 'growth' on the parts of each of the three males in the tale, happiness is possible. The film's intent is admirable and the cast of characters selected to portray these people - Owens shows real potential as a serious dramatic actor, George McKay is particularly excellent as the elder son - is very well selected. The film is long, and could be easily edited without altering the impact of the story. Director Scott Hicks allows the film to become predictable and overly saccharine: less could definitely have been more. But it is a good evening's entertainment. And Clive Owens CAN do Hallmark-type films for TV! Grady Harp