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Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Ryan, John Ortiz, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Tom McCarthy

Adapted from Bob Glaudini's play of the same name, Philip Seymour Hoffman's directorial debut, Jack Goes Boating, tells the simple tale of Jack (Hoffman), a shy, fortyish limo driver with a fondness f... read more read more...or pot and reggae music -- he likes it because it sounds happy -- who meets Connie (Amy Ryan) for a blind date set up by Connie's co-worker Lucy (Daphne Rubin-Vega), who is married to Jack's best friend and fellow limo driver, Clyde (John Ortiz). As the young couple tentatively come together, breaking through layers and layers of awkwardness and low self-esteem, Clyde and Lucy's marriage begins to dissolve because of Clyde's inability to get over an incident from their past. All the while, Clyde gives Jack swimming lessons so that he can take Connie on her dream date -- a boating trip on the lake. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

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R, 1 hr. 29 min.

Directed by: Philip Seymour Hoffman

Release Date: September 17, 2010

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DVD Release Date: January 18, 2011

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Flixster Reviews (371)

  • SirPant
    March 5, 2012
    SirPant
    Jack goes Boating is subtle and heartfelt. It's the gentle, real and awkward love story amongst the deluge of brash not-particularly-funny rom-coms that are in abundance. Visually, it's a triumph for Philip Seymour Hoffman in his directional debut, his supporting cast are also br... read moreilliant, Ortiz, Ryan and Rubin-Vega pretty much carry the film. My only criticism, and it's quite an important and harsh one I'm afraid, is that it is very boring. I realise the importance of the subtlety of this film, but it's Seymour Hoffman's nothing performance that really suffocates this film that is desperately trying to come up for air. It's a shame, I really did like this film, I liked the story and I liked the characters, it just didn't have that spark it should have - Jack himself being the major issue.
  • paulsandberg
    December 13, 2011
    paulsandberg
    Directed and starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Jack Goes Boating tells an interesting tale of love found and lost - using the parallel tales of Jack (Hoffman), a rather simple minded guy who is courting a damaged woman (terrific portrayal by Amy Ryan), and the couple who play mat... read morechmakers, while their own marriage dissolves, due to infidelities real and perceived.

    Jack is an interesting character study, the kind of quirky dude that Hoffman plays so very well. He appears to be a fish out of water, and yet there's a certain nobility in his steadfast desire to learn and better himself - if nothing more than because he perceives that Ryan is requiring it of him. For example, the title of the film - after meeting in mid-winter, Ryan says that she'd like to go boating some time. This refers to the romantic image of man and woman in a row boat, drifting on a tranquil lake on a warm summer's day. Jack tells her he'd like to take her, but when it gets warmer. Unfortunately he can't swim, so the concept of being in the middle of a lake in a small craft scares him. The solution: he enlists his buddy and fellow limo driver Clyde (another wonderful performance by John Ortiz), to teach him how to swim.

    Clyde is a true friend, who revels in Jack's courting, even while revealing to Jack that long term relationships aren't all they're cracked up to be. His attempts to wipe the mutual deeds of the past away concerning both he and his wife Lucy (an uneven performance by Daphne Rubin-Vega) are almost heartbreaking - he has forgiven her, but she can't do the same for him.

    Hoffman's directing debut of this stage adaptation is a mixed bag. He shows glimpses of imagery, but remains too tied down to the linear presentation of the story while lingering too long on silent shots meant to convey deep meaning. Conversely he plays too fast and loose with some of the scenes, like cutting into the bedroom where Jack and Ryan have just had their first, aborted attempt at sex. It is revealed that Ryan is psychologically damaged (which the film infers earlier, yet never delves into why) - and yet the entire scene plays as a quirky mess, having no prior setup to ground it.

    This is the type of film adaptation where I was wondering just how it would be presented on stage. Sure, it's a small, indie type film, but the action seems so over drawn and drawn out that you wonder how it would present over two or three acts.
  • itsjustme2004
    July 29, 2011
    itsjustme2004
    For some reason beyond my understanding, I am a fan of Philip Seymour Hoffman. Not sure why..but I ALWAYS enjoy his movies. Is it his style? his demeanor? his fantastic acting abilities? his great choice in movie subjects? I don't know, but he did it again. This was a very nice, ... read moretouching, moving drama that I probably wouldn't have enjoyed as much had he not been in it.
  • cosmo313
    July 19, 2011
    cosmo313
    This film is the directorial debut of Philip Seymour Hoffman, and it is...pretty much what I figured or expected it to be. It very much fits in with the bulk of his filmography.

    The story concerns a nice but awkward guy named Jack who, with the help of his best friend, learns ot... read more come out of his shell and improve his life after he meets Connie, a woman similar to him in many ways who could very well be the perfect match for him. That's pretty much the plot. It's a tad bit like parts of American Beauty, only sweeter, and not dark or creepy.

    This is definitely an indie film to it's core, but that's not a bad thing. It won't appeal to everyone, but if you like character driven pieces, then you should find this enjoyable. It's mostly a nice drama, with some romance and bits of comedy, although it's very reserved in that regard.

    The acting is awesome. That should be expected though, given who is involved. Of the four main players, three of them are all reprising the roles they originated when this project was just a stage play. Also, as far as directing goes, Hoffman does a good job, although it's not really showy in terms of cinematic elements. Maybe that has something to do with it feeling much like a play since it started out as one.

    I liked these characters. This is one of those movies that has a lot of realism to it, yet there's still some hope and idealism, even if not everything ever comes together perfectly (in the world the film shows, not the film itself). I'd like to see some more films helmed by Hoffman. I think he could be an interesting director to watch.

    So yeah, if you're in the mood for a nice indie character study, or are a fan of Hoffman or Ryan (my two favorites here), give this a look. It's good stuff.
  • jennifxu
    April 30, 2011
    jennifxu
    Phillip Seymour Hoffman's directorial debut seems a little late in the coming. After all, a man with three Oscar nominations and many more stellar performances seems to hold a pretty firm grasp on the human condition. So while "Jack Goes Boating," an allegory of two innocent peop... read morele holding onto each other while the rest of New York silently crumbles around them, initially feels a bit anticlimactic, it might be because we feel like we should've seen it about ten years ago.

    And truly, everything about "Jack" seems a little wound down. Adapted from a play by Robert Glaudini, the film tells the story of Jack, a simpleminded limo driver who just wants to find a serious relationship. As the protagonist, Hoffman, who seems hell-bent on making himself look as repulsive as possible, resembles nothing so much as a large, fleshy baby. When his married friends Clyde (John Ortiz, "Public Enemies") and Lucy (Daphne Rubin-Vega, "Flawless") set him up with the slightly odd, sexually paranoid Connie (Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone"), Jack's newborn demeanor cracks a little to show his gaping inexperience.

    If Jack were a girl, he'd probably get a makeover and go shopping. Instead, he just learns how to swim and cook a meal. And slowly, as Jack's limited awareness of the world increases in scope, he realizes that just with his limo driver job and three friends, he might not have it so bad after all.

    At its worst, "Jack Goes Boating" can be excruciatingly dull. At best, it is relaxing. As a film with very little ambition in regards to story content, "Jack" needs to rely on its characterizations in order to pull a viewer through. And although the four actors do an admirable job of inhabiting their respective characters, there isn't enough fat in the screenplay to cushion what essentially is a straightforward parable about surviving in New York City.

    To Hoffman's credit, though, the film never feels much like a play - there is nary a strand of turgid, exhaustive dialogue so typical in stage-based adaptations. In fact, it might be the fact that its screenplay is too linear, too clear-cut in its plot progression that brings about its unfortunate downfall.

    However, the film does seem to hits its stride somewhere in the second third. Jack and Connie, slightly off-kilter from the rest of the world, do a lot of hugging and kissing to make up for the melancholic devastation leaking out of their friends. But the best scenes happen in the swimming pool, as Clyde patiently teaches Jack how to hold his breath by visualizing the little chlorine bubbles gurgling around him. Later on, images of Jack lucidly slicing through the water are intercut with a center shot of him standing on a bridge practicing his strokes while the Fleet Foxes blast out in the background.

    With his debut, Hoffman has proven his prowess behind the camera, but his story development still needs a little fine-tuning. But it's the little moments in between that make the short, imperfect "Jack Goes Boating" a worthwhile watch, which really speak to the overlying themes of the film. As his character Clyde would say, "Life is fucked up, but we get by."
  • LWOODS04
    February 24, 2011
    LWOODS04
    Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, John Ortiz, Richard Petrocelli, Thomas McCarthy, Amy Ryan, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Lola Glaudini, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Mason Pettit, Salvatore Inzerillo

    Director: Philip Seymour Hoffman

    Summary: Jack, a marijuana-smoking Manhattan limo driver, beg... read moreins an unlikely regimen of self-improvement to win the heart of a fellow misfit named Connie (Amy Ryan). But as Jack learns to cook and swim for the benefit of his girl, he also witnesses the breakup of his best friends' marriage. An adaptation of Bob Glaudini's play.

    My Thoughts: "A small cast with big performances. Philip Seymour Hoffman has vastly became a part of my long list of favorite actor's. He is always front and center in any film he's apart of no matter how small the part, you remember his performance. Jack and Connie have a relationship that is taking off, while Lucy and Clyde's relationship is falling apart. Jack and Connie are the oddest character's which make them absolutely perfect for one another. They are very awkward, but yet very sweet at the same time. I also enjoyed the friendship between Jack and Clyde. Not everyone is going to like this. But I enjoyed it."
  • neverteaseaweasel
    February 20, 2011
    neverteaseaweasel
    I had almost passed Jack Goes Boating over but that would have been a huge mistake for it is so completely wonderful. It's a sad/funny/sweet/tragic/optimistic/thoughtful musing on love and humanity and the hope for a better tomorrow. You can tell the film is based on a play, but ... read morethe screenplay and dialog is amazing all the same. The base material itself is wonderful, but I also really liked the visual style and music. Most of the locations are pretty washed out, but then you get these occasional bursts of color. It's all really realistic, but filmed in such a way that you realize the beauty that can actually be found in everyday, utilitarian locations. As for the music, Fleet Foxes has to be one of the most horribly underheard bands around; so the prominent use of 'Oliver James' and 'White Winter Hymnal' really added to my appreciation towards the film. It something we've seen many times, but I never get tired of seeing those we tag as 'dysfunctional' or 'weird' find themselves in a better place than those who are perfectly 'normal'.
  • lewiskendell
    February 18, 2011
    lewiskendell
    "You've never been in a relationship for any length of time. A lot happens."

    Jack Goes Boating is a raw, hard to categorize directorial debut for Philip Seymour Hoffman, adapted from the play of the same title.

    I guess if I had to assign it a genre, it would be indie drama. Th... read moree story follows the hesitantly blossoming relationship between Jack (Hoffman) and Connie (Amy Ryan), and the rocky, established relationship of their friends Clyde (John Ortiz) and Lucy (Daphne Rubin-Vega).

    Jack Goes Boating reminded me of Two Lovers in some ways. It involves flawed people making decisions that aren't always the wisest ones, and dealing with things in their past that make their current relationships more difficult.

    Don't expect this to be romantic or cutesy, it attempts to go for the "realistic" angle, with all the problems and realities that come with real adult relationships. That's derailed a bit by the occasionally awkward dialogue and characters that aren't really as fleshed out as they needed to be. We don't get much of a sense of who they used to be or what their past was like, and that would have added to the movie immensely. It's somewhat difficult to put into context the characters as they are now, without that information.

    Still, I think this was a pretty decent debut from Hoffman. He's clearly in the process of learning what works from the other side of the camera, and it's puzzling why they didn't adjust the odd, romance novel-like dialogue in some places, but overall, Jack Goes Boating hints at a promising future. There are some poignant moments that really stuck out, to me. Fans of Hoffman and Ryan (count me as both) should check it out.
  • fb733768972
    January 31, 2011
    fb733768972
    Jack Goes Boating is extremely intriguing! It's little messages of happiness surround a man who is incapable of many things. He is about 50 years old, and finally falling in love with a girl for the first time. She is his polar opposite, which is exactly what pulls them so closel... read morey together. This is a story of love, betrayal, and blocked romance! I am not a particularly huge fan of Phillip Seymour Hoffman, however, his performance moved the movie in more way than one. The final line of the film brought tears to my eyes, seeing how such a incapable man is actually capable of. From knowing nothing, to knowing everything, Jack Goes Boating is fantastic!
  • LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    January 30, 2011
    LorenzoVonMatterhorn
    "Don't worry, I'm a good swimmer.
    I knew you'd be good.
    I am for you."

    A limo driver's blind date sparks a tale of love, betrayal, friendship, and grace centered around two working-class New York City couples.

    REVIE
    ... read moreW
    For its humor, emotional honesty, and glimpse of almost unfathomable decency in a world as untidy as Hoffman's Rastafarian locks, this film rises to a place among my all time favorites-- along with David Mamet's "State and Main". Although Hoffman's wonderfully imagined writer in the Mamet film shares some of Jack's ingenuous sensibility, Glaudini's writing and Hoffman's embodiment invest the doughy type with the necessary twiggy fiber to make the character heart-achingly real. Trailers and reviews give lots of specifics about plot, but thankfully do not catalogue all the film's pleasures. Jack and his boating date, Connie, are both outsiders and both uncannily patient-- driven perhaps more by uncompromising values than by fear. Clyde and Lucy, the aggressively magnanimous pair who mentor the new couple provide an important counterpoint. And all four actors in these central roles leave their egos someplace outside the frame enabling us to enjoy every surprising ripple of character. With the plot's unfolding, we are not taken for a ride but for a journey.

View All Jack Goes Boating Reviews

Critic Reviews

Tom Long
October 1, 2010
Tom Long, Detroit News

Hoffman the director can't compete with Hoffman the film's star. And he can pretty much just stand in wonder at the layers co-star Amy Ryan brings to the party. The woman is a natural wonder. Full Review

Lisa Kennedy
October 1, 2010
Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post

The movie's heart and story, both bleeding and mending, and its quartet of characters are hard to abandon -- and easy to care about. Full Review

Colin Covert
September 30, 2010
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

The best thing about Philip Seymour Hoffman's directing debut: It stars Philip Seymour Hoffman. Full Review

Carrie Rickey
September 30, 2010
Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer

It belatedly reveals itself to be a meditation on the different kinds of loneliness, presenting isolation as a form of social stage fright. Full Review

Roger Moore
September 29, 2010
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel

Jack Goes Boating is a low energy romance, a movie that rewards a filmgoer with the patience to let this affair play itself out. Sink or swim, Connie and Jack will come out of this changed. And so wil... Full Review

J. R. Jones
September 24, 2010
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader

Making his feature directing debut, Hoffman shows considerable generosity toward the other players, which was probably a good idea given his own listless performance as the mumbling title character. Full Review

Linda Barnard
September 24, 2010
Linda Barnard, Toronto Star

Hoffman brings all the methodical excellence that has made him such a force as an actor to his first outing as a director with the tender story of awkward, middle-aged love, betrayal and consequences ... Full Review

Mick LaSalle
September 23, 2010
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

Jack Goes Boating is a successful work of art. To see this movie is to feel that you've lived it. Full Review

Ty Burr
September 23, 2010
Ty Burr, Boston Globe

This is one of those rare movies that genuinely likes its characters and wishes them the best; as agonizing as it can be to watch Jack fumble toward human connection, Hoffman knows the fumbling's the ... Full Review

Roger Ebert
September 23, 2010
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

The actors make it new and poignant, and avoid going over the top in the story's limited psychic and physical space. Even at their highest pitch, the emotions of these characters come from hearts long... Full Review

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    • Connie: In a bathtub, I imagined I was with you.
    • Jack: You took a bath?
    • Jack: Don't worry, I'm a good swimmer.
    • Connie: I knew you'd be good.
  • 'Phillip Seymour Hoffman' reprises the role he originated on stage.
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