It’s become our family’s tradition to go to the movies on Christmas Day. This year, we saw “The Boys in the Boat,” the George Clooney-directed interpretation of Daniel James Brown’s outstanding chronicle of the University of Washington’s rowing team’s journey as they strive for gold during the 1936 Berlin Olympics. I see it as equal parts Miracle, Cinderella Man and Sea Biscuit.

No spoilers here. My only real knocks are 1) some of the other US colleges’ crews look like they’re middle-age men (e.g., Navy’s coxswain) and 2) in a newsreel promoting the US Olympic team, Jesse Owens is identified as being from the University of Ohio. Major, major gaffe, not just because Clooney is from the Cincinnati area and should’ve known better (granted, he’s from the Kentucky side) but you’d think somebody—anybody!—affiliated with the movie’s production would’ve caught it somewhere between script approval and final production. How do you make a movie with Jesse Owens in it and screw that up? Disappointing but it’s not enough of a flub to have ruined the movie for me.

Has anyone else seen it or another movie this holiday season?