The Boat Builder

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.

Ignore the poor reviews. Apparently, they have to have everything laid out for them. No imagination. This is movie is worth watching from start to finish. I especially loved the way it ended. Definitely closure. Even a surprise or two! All the characters are well defined. The lead characters, the old man and the orphan were believable and natural. The daughter's appearances were brief but effective to the storyline. The story ended on a positive note. It wasn't necessary to show all the details for a satisfactory ending. The message was clear and appropriate to the storyline! I guess those poor reviewers need everything spelled out for them or they were anticipating a totally different ending.

The acting is appalling except for Lloyd who is excellent, and Rachel Resheff who is also good as the cousin. And the script could have been much better, but it's sweet story and enjoyable to watch. If you don't go in expecting Spielberg, you will find it's not a bad movie.

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.

I decided to watch this movie because it started to great actors: Christopher Lloyd and Jane Kaczmerak. They are the only good thing about this movie. All other actor's performances are forced, unnatural and simply BAD! No wonder I have never seen any of these actors, as I am certain I could do a better job. The script does not flow and the end is just dumb. What a waste of time!

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.

Was this an improv? The only guidance for every character in the story seems to be, "do whatever you want - there are no consequences for any action you take."