Well, of course he will. He's an American, isn't he, and everyone knows that we're sex maniacs with no sense of tradition and no concern for others. I've revealed a fair amount of the plot, but I don't feel too bad about it, as you can see it all a mile off. There are no unusual twists here. But we're dealing with a formula, albeit a very old and dusty one, so you can't criticise too much for that.
Execution is everything in such a film.
The execution here is serviceable, but undistinguished. Since the film must stand or fall on atmosphere, it teeters a little. Boris also gets less out of the many boat races than he might. These are patterned a bit too transparently on the examples of Chariots of Fire , music and all, but Boris doesn't capture the beauty of boat races nearly as well as Hugh Hudson captured the beauty of running. The cast is OK, for the most part.