Jack Goes Boating [Blu-ray]

JACK GOES BOATING sneaks up on you. With a very small cast, very little dialogue, slow movement, and stuttered sound this little film slowly unravels a story about reconstructing tenuous lives for two awkward and damaged people who wrongly place their role models in the personas of pathological people. Robert Glaudini wrote the play on which this film is based and then thankfully wrote the screenplay for its transfer to film. Philip Seymour Hoffman produces, directs and stars, and once again proving he is an artist of great dramatic range.

Jack (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is an obese, socially inept limousine driver who tunes out the world by wearing earphones to his recorded reggae music. He wants something better, even if that is driving for MTA, but he is buried in the paperwork and bureaucracy. His fellow limo driver is Clyde (Jack Ortiz) who is married to Lucy (Daphne Rubin-Vega) who works for a mortuary run by Dr Bob (Thomas McCarthy) who gives seminars on life that require telemarketing. There is a very plain new girl telemarketer Connie (Amy Ryan) with deep-seated issues of her own who faces being fired for being inept until a subway altercation increases her fortitude and she starts closing deals in her job. Clyde sets up Jack with Connie but with his lack of relationship skills almost blunders the setup. In the middle of winter Jack promises Connie that they will be dating by summer when Jack can take her boating. Clyde teaches the inept Jack how to swim, Lucy encourages Connie to take Jack seriously, and Jack accidentally promises Connie he will make dinner for her - something that really makes Connie trust Jack and find him desirable. Jack takes cooking lessons from Cannoli (Salvatore Inzerillo, a chef we soon discover Lucy has had affairs with) and with the swimming lessons preparing Jack for boating and the cooking lessons at Lucy and Clyde's apartment (Jack lives in his father's basement with only a hot plate!), the preparations for Jack and Connie to become connected are set. But very soon Jack learns from Clyde that Lucy is unfaithful, Lucy lets Jack know that Clyde has been unfaithful and when the time comes for Jack and Connie to have the 'dinner' with Lucy and Clyde, a volcanic reaction occurs , changing all the preparations in many ways. The interaction of the quartet of players show that life is a series of love, betrayal, friendship and grace. The manner in which the 'teaching couple' and the 'learning couple' find each other is both tender and pathetic - a balance that each of the quartet of players plays with aplomb.

Hoffman takes Glaudini's play to new heights and the result is film that is insightful in the say it opens our eyes to the microstories that surround us. Grady Harp, May 11

Jack Goes Boating marks the directorial debut of one of America's most accomplished and one of my personal favorite actors, the brilliant Philip Seymour Hoffman. The man has been a spark in such films as Spike Lee's touching 25th Hour and the Charlie Kaufman-helmed surrealist mind-bender Synecdoche, Ny. His direction here is understated, his film shambling but not entirely bleak. Jack Goes Boating is a drifting picture, but it is a winner because of its heart. It could have, given the subject matter, a relentlessly dour experience. Instead, Hoffman incorporates both the happy and the sad in mostly equal measures. A small film, but a success.
The film centers on a neurotic, rasti-loving New York limo driver with a penchant for pot and a nearly overwhelming sense of day-to-day isolation. He latches onto a couple whose marital fabric is stretching from past indiscretions, through whom he is introduced to an equally neurotic young woman named Connie who seems to have a good if oft-trampled heart.
In some ways, Jack Goes Boating feels a lot like a Cheever or a Raymond Carver short story. There is not a lot of action, the story centering mainly on character interactions. It is plodding but never dull. There are many surprises, actually, such as a weird subway scene and a dinner party climax for the ages. Despite what its detractors will no doubt claim, the film strikes a resonant tone. It seems "real", for lack of a better word. Hoffman's performance is understated but always reliable and Amy Ryan is excellent as the damaged Connie. The two leads are ultimately a conjoined foil for the other couple whose marital pains provide the film's moral center, as well as dramatic tension.
Indie enthusiasts take note, the soundtrack is also quite interesting. Though the song choices are generic, the bands represented are some of my favorites, Grizzly Bear and Fleet Foxes among them. Ultimately, this is a soft film with a lot of memorable scenes, snappy dialogue and while it may meander, that is its charm. Very poignant.

This film was exactly what I thought it would be, and more.

Philip Seymour Hoffman directs and stars in this quiet, quirky film about a man named Jack. Jack and Connie are set up on a blind date by their married friends, Clyde and Lucy. Clyde and Lucy seem very together and ambitious, while Jack and Connie are basically loner losers.
But from this humble, awkward first date emerges a real relationship and passion for life. Throughout the film we see very little of Jack and Connie, or Lucy and Clyde, together, but we really get to know them as individuals and couples.

The perfection Clyde and Lucy exude quickly diminishes to show the tarnished dysfunction they actually inhabit together. The denial and lack of love is painful to watch, while Jack's hopefulness and devotion are truly touching. The lesson this film taught me made it worth watching (the last line is so beautiful).

Some pretty scary and violent (more verbal than physical) moments show the depth of the actors in this film. This is definitely an offbeat film, so it may not be for you.

And the soundtrack is amazing!!

Very quirky and dark, but with enough sentimental moments to endear you, Jack Goes Boating is a good film.