The Boat Builder

I began watching this movie with the assumption it was going to be a simplistic feel-good movie. Though my expectations were low I was up for something that offered hope and happiness. Little did I know it would be a trial. The only reason I continued to view this movie is because of my admiration for Christopher Lloyd's willingness to provide such a quality performance despite the painfully poor acting around him and weak script.

The story is oft told of the grumpy codger whose rough edge is chiseled away by a child who has social issues of his/her own. So this story is not unique. The script is not only unoriginal, it is forced, awkward, and immature as if it was written by one of my middle school students. The acting (Lloyd being the exception) is unnatural, robotic, and lacks any convincing emotion.

I have been a Christopher Lloyd for many years, of course as Doc Brown but even before that as Reverend Jim in the old Taxi TV series. He is the old boat builder Abner in this title and truthfully in this small movie without him it probably would not be worth a watch. The script is often very clumsy and many actors just aren't very good at all, but Abner is always authentic.

Filmed mostly in the Pacifica, California area, on the coast just south of San Francisco, Abner is a retired sea-going captain and is building this 20-odd foot sailboat on his property. But zoning prohibits that and when neighbors complain he has two weeks to get the boat out of there. An orphan boy living temporarily with his relatives comes to Abner's aid, what starts out as an adversarial one turns into a friendly relationship.

As I said, a good smaller move for Lloyd, interesting and entertaining. My wife and I watched it on Amazon streaming movies.

Christopher Lloyd is a delight. The story is predictable but the life of the old man, his work, and his dream resonates.

I watched this movie solely to see another performance by Christopher Lloyd. He is a wonderful, talented actor.

Ok - I'm a person of faith and I tend to like movies with a good moral storyline, BUT I like them to be well written and even plausible. This movie is not - either plausible or well written. In my opinion it's worth 3 stars - and even that is a stretch.