Review: Boychoir

Eleven-year-old Stet (Garrett Wareing) may have the face of an angel, but he is an angry young boy. Prone to acting out in class when he's not cutting it, Stet lives on the wrong side of the tracks, barely raised by a single mother who spends the days in alcoholic slumber.

Stet has a guardian angel of sorts in the form of his school principal Ms. Steel (Debra Winger), who sees a musical ability within him that needs nurturing. She arranges for the touring American Boychoir to visit their school and for its headmaster Carvelle (Dustin Hoffman) to audition Stet for the choir's elite program. Stet runs out on the encounter, only to arrive home to the news of his mother's death. At her funeral, Ms. Steel convinces Stet's long-absent father Gerard (Josh Lucas) to provide Stet a chance at a better life by enrolling him in the American Boychoir School instead of sending him to foster care.

Gerard's generous "donation" secures Stet a spot in the school, though Carvelle bristles at Gerard's approach. Carvelle's choirmaster Drake (Eddie Izzard) can barely restrain his disgust at taking in Stet, whom he considers a stray. Yes, the boy has talent but he can't even read music or understand any of the musical terminology - how can Stet possibly catch up to the rest of the boys, who have spent all of their lives living and breathing music?

Stet finds supporters in the headmistress Justine (the invaluable Kathy Bates) and Professor Wooly (Glee's Kevin McHale in a solid supporting turn). Wooly, in particular, begs Carvelle to grant Stet another chance to audition for the touring choir, arguing that Stet might be the one to take them to New York, the promised land for boy choirs. Yet Carvelle, noting Stet's still-existing disciplinary problems, will not be swayed: "Behaviour is the issue. A good voice is not enough."

Boychoir doesn't contain anything we haven't already seen before. One might even recall the likes of Billy Elliot and last year's Whiplash, similarly themed tales of underdogs pushed to realise their full potential. What does set Boychoir apart in this regard is the essentially temporary nature of Stet's gift. Where the protagonists of Billy Elliot, Whiplash, and other films of this ilk arrive at the beginning of their future at film's end, Boychoir's Stet - along with the scores of other students - must capitalise on his vocal abilities before puberty hits and those abilities fade from the fore. Indeed, Stet wonders what the point of it all is. The lessons themselves are the point, Wooly answers, because the lessons teach you to appreciate what you have for the time you have it.

That same sentiment holds somewhat true for the film, which is by-the-numbers formulaic. If the film pleases and makes you feel good, it is due to the durability of that formula and the seasoned playing of Bates, Izzard, and Hoffman. Ben Ripley's script can be clumsily contrived, but it does generally avoid the sentimentality that could have instinctively vined through the story. Director François Girard, however, appears to have equated this avoidance with a sombre colour palette and rote direction.

Boychoir

Directed by: François Girard

Written by: Ben Ripley

Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Garrett Wareing, Kathy Bates, Eddie Izzard, Josh Lucas, Kevin McHale, Debra Winger, Joe West, River Alexander