True Blue

Would-be Chariots of Fire-style sports movie centred on the preparations for the celebrated 1987 Oxford vs Cambridge Boat Race. Many news stories focused on controversy about imported American pros up against traditionally trained Brit oarsmen, prompting Oxford coach Daniel Topolski to unravel the serpentine rivalries, machinations and mutinies that preceded the race in a successful book co-authored with Patrick Robinson. Rupert Walters' script straightens out the book's episodic ins and outs, but it still retains a dozen or so main oarsmen, resulting in a loss of focus and the niggling problem that the movie's half-over before the viewer can identify who's who. Thematically muffled and boring.