This movie is vastly underrated by the movie critics who were highly critical of director. The director brought a wonderful story to the movie screen and made a piece of rowing history both exciting & dramatic.
Great performances by the actors in a period piece which seems to reflect the Depression era & pre World War II accurately. The semi-obligatory appearance of Jesse Owens' in this story seems a bit contrived and forced. Unfortunately current world geo-political situation with open European warfare & cyber attacks calls into question whether high performance university athletes in an isolationist USA are aware of the looming threats in Europe. Our current athletes would rather compete with/or in Russia or China, despite the horrible record of both countries.
The movie is pure entertainment and provides a few hours to feel all those emotions watching the human spirit overcome seemingly insurmountable odds. (BTW George Clooney (director) did a great job!)