Streamline

Gritty movie showing a true side of Australian teenage turmoil in combining sport with life. Johnston drew from personal experience both being an Australian and his experience in competitive swimming as a teenager. Levi Miller portrayed the role beautifully and the cast showed a very accurate portrayal of Australian life for many. Loved it.

Throughout this film, I had to keep asking myself, "Why bother?" The acting is competent. The production values are adequate for the job. But the script is sadly wanting. The adjectives that come to mind are: predictable, tedious, labored, timid, muddled. I can only hope that the writer meant to do better but felt constrained. If this film is the result of an unconstrained talent, there is much to lament.

Benjamin 'Boy' Lane (Levi Miller) is a 15 year old Australian swimming phenom on the path to the Olympics. His life starts falling apart after his abusive criminal father Rob Bush (Jason Isaacs) gets released from prison.

I must warn anyone wanting Jason Isaacs to be a big part of this movie. He is in a supporting role here although it is an important one. The kid is ok although he's no James Dean. For most of the movie, he has two modes. He is either smiling or not smiling. It's not until the end when he tries to expand his acting. This needs the kid to do more and Jason Isaacs could have drawn that out of him. I'm sure that Isaacs was too busy to give them more than a few days.

The life got sucked out of this movie by the downtrodden writing. There was just not much excitement in the movie in any way. It's supposed to be inspiring but my god, you just want to rescue this kid from his life. Awful parents, awful friends, in an awful environment that beats you over the head with bullies and despair. I watched 38 minutes in and had to give up. Just nothing to hope for here, except that prospective viewers read this and skip it. Started this on a whim and couldn't wait to turn it off.

Actors and characters with zero personality or emotional connection, makes non engaging viewing. Australia desperately needs to do better, especially with selecting and casting its actors. Are they told to be bland and scripted?