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Rarely does an opening scene involve a smiling father driving his SUV along a public beach with his laughing six-year-old sitting precariously on the hood. Despite this Britney Spears-like parenting moment, The Boys Are Back soon becomes a wonderful drama with enough emotional punch to make your eyes water and your face smile.

Inspired by the 2001 memoir The Boys Are Back In Town by Simon Carr, this movie adaptation stars Clive Owen (The International, Children of Men) as talented sports writer Joe Warr. After returning home to Australia from an assignment in London, Joe's beautiful wife and mother of his six-year-old son (Nicholas McAnulty) discovers she has terminal cancer. When she dies, Joe is left with the responsibility of raising a son he has barely seen.

Joe struggles to keep his head above water as his son has difficulty grasping the concept that his mother is gone. To help cope, he adapts a simple rule for happiness in his house - just say yes. This comes as a shock to Harry (George MacKay - Defiance), Joe's teenage son from a previous marriage who comes to live with them for a while.

As he learns to become a better father, Joe must navigate through the stress of keeping his newspaper job, dealing with Harry's feelings of abandonment, and figuring out what to do with the attraction he has for a single mother (Australian actress Emma Booth) from his son's grade school.

Marvelously directed by Scott Hicks (Hearts in Atlantis, Shine), The Boys Are Back, which contains beautiful shots of the Australian countryside, avoids becoming overly sentimental and delivers the goods. Owen's genuine and sincere portrayal of gut wrenching heartbreak is nothing short of profound. Not to take anything away from MacKay and McAnulty, who are wonderful in their own right, but Owen's presence dominates the film. It is arguably the finest dramatic performance of his career since he became well known to American audiences with his role in 2002's The Bourne Identity.

On a letter grade scale from A being excellent to F for failing, The Boys Are Back receives a B.
    
The Boys Are Back is rated PG-13 and has a running time of 104 minutes.

Now showing through October 22 @
Tivoli Cinemas
Westport Manor Square, 4050 Pennsylvania, KCMO
Visit www.tivolikc.com or call 913-383-7756 for showtimes.

By Michael D. Smith

Indie Film Editor

Michael D. Smith earned a Bachelor of Arts in history at College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Missouri followed by a Master of Arts in history at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Inspired by such critics as Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, Michael started reviewing films in 1992 for College of the Ozarks's student-run newspaper. After returning to the Kansas City area in 1994, he continued film reviewing by writing for the Cass County Democrat Missourian in Harrisonville.

In 2000 Michael joined Sun Publications in Overland Park, Kansas where he served as its film critic and Arts and Entertainment Editor. During his tenure there, he was also the film critic for the "Fine Arts Radio Hour" and "Celebrity Scoop" radio shows on KXTR. After leaving the Sun in late 2002, he became the A&E writer for the Olathe News in Olathe, Kansas. He also worked as a freelance writer for The Squire in Leawood, Showcase Publishing in Lake Ozark, Missouri and the Kansas City Star.

Michael is currently a member of the Kansas City Film Critics Circle, a professional film critic organization established in 1966 by the late Dr. James Loutzenhiser.