New Orleans Film Festival 2009

Inspired by a true story, The Boys Are Back is a deeply moving, wryly confessional tale of fatherhood that intimately evokes both the fragility and wonders of family life. It follows a witty, wisecracking, action-oriented sportswriter (Clive Owen) who, in the wake of his wife’s tragic death, finds himself in a sudden, stultifying state of single parenthood. With turbulent emotions swirling just below the surface, Joe Warr throws himself into the only child-rearing philosophy he thinks has a shot at bringing joy back into their lives: “Just say yes.” Raising two boys—a curious six-year-old and a rebel teen from a previous marriage—in a household devoid of feminine influence, and with an unabashed lack of rules, life becomes exuberant, instinctual, reckless...and on the constant verge of disaster.