LastingAware
The greatest movie ever!
MonsterPerfect
Good idea lost in the noise
Neive Bellamy
Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.
Mike Garcia
I found this film on a videostore some years ago,I must admit that that I rented the movie because I am a great fan of the bon jovi's music..the quality of the film it was a great surprise for me, i expected a good movie but I found an amazing film..The Jon Bon Jovi performance is brilliant, his character reminds me to the losers that Paul Newman used to play on movies like the hustler or sweet bird of youth. Bai ling plays her character with a honesty and innocence that makes impossible not to love her and feel what Jon feels about her, William Forsythe plays the character of the troublesome brother, and he is awesome on it, you never know what to feel about this character if love or hate, his performance is great, and I also like to mention Jill Henessy, she shines on the film as the girlfriend of William Forsythe character. The movie is directed by Sollace Mitchell masterfully...The scene on the park when James(Bon Jovi) teach chun(Bai ling) to curse on English is a good example about what good cinema is about..it is a small film, unpretentious,but with good intentions and full of sincerity. A story about characters of what is lacking today's cinema..a hopeless tragedy, a story of an impossible love, the kind of stories that makes cinema great.
MetalGeek
I bought ROW YOUR BOAT on DVD at my local Just-A-Buck dollar store almost a year ago and it sat on the shelf unplayed till this past weekend. I had picked it up mainly for my wife, who still carries the torch from her teenage crush on Jon Bon Jovi. I had never seen Jon in an acting role before, but I'll admit that I was pleasantly surprised by his abilities. (However, I have always HATED his fluff-rock band, and I suppose I always will!) Jon stars here as an ex-con who's determined to walk the straight and narrow path after his parole. When we first meet "Jamie" (Jon), he's spending his nights at flophouse hotels or on the streets of Manhattan and trying to avoid the temptation to go back to work for his brother (a genuinely slimy William Forsythe), a small time hoodlum who was the cause of Jon's imprisonment in the first place. Jamie takes a low paying job as an "enumerator" for the US Census Division, which leads to many funny scenes as he trots around bad New York neighborhoods trying to count the various occupants. His census job brings him into contact with a lovely but unhappy Chinese woman (Bai Ling), who is basically a "trophy wife" for a much older Chinese businessman. He offers to give her English lessons and they begin a wobbly but romantic relationship, while his brother's "business" begins to tempt him back into the fold. I'm not going to proclaim this is a great movie but I did enjoy its combination of romantic comedy and crime drama, and the ending is not the one that I'd expected/hoped for. Add in some cool shot-on-location scenes from the gritty side of New York City and you have a cool little film that was definitely worth the dollar I paid for it, which is not something I can say about most of the other "Dollar Store DVDs" in my collection.
whpratt1
Jon Bon Jovi,(Janey Meadow),"Cry Wolf",'05, played an ex-con who just got out of the Pen and wanted to go straight, find a job, fall in love with a gal, have children and a dream house to go a long with his dreams. Janey soon found out that being an ex-con was not very easy and he wound up sleeping in Flop Houses and even the outside. Janey had a brother that tried to help him get his act together, but Janey wanted no part of his brother's lifestyle. Ling Bai, (Chun Hua),"Edmond",'05, plays a sweet young gal from China who has a baby and gets very involved with Janey. This story has many twists and turns and it is best you get a box of tissues in order to view some parts of this down to earth love story.
Lyssie_Adams
This film was a real find. A truly engaging story and characters you can care about make this a far more rewarding viewing experience than many higher profile, bigger budget films. Set in New York and dealing with an ex-con's struggle to go straight, this is a sweet, intelligent and moving film. Its central motif is the tragedy of the predicament that Jamey Meadows finds himself in - thoughtful and compassionate, his attempts to re-build his life are pushed down at every stage by his circumstances. The issues of the poverty cycle and the corruption of the vulnerable by the very people who should be protecting them are handled with care and insight, but without the cloying sentimentality so common in modern American cinema. Superbly written, though sadly poorly edited, this is a beautiful look at the struggle between idealism and practicality in today's world. This may sound heavy, but the script is peppered with humor and delivered with a lightness of touch that renders this a thoroughly enjoyable movie.The cast are commendable, both as individuals and as an ensemble, and the responsiveness of their performances in their interactions with each other lift this movie above the ordinary. Bai Ling's performance is a perfect balance of vulnerability and spiritedness, full of childlike innocence and wonder yet at the same time worn down by the seeming inevitability of life's disappointments. The biggest surprise however is Jon Bon Jovi as Jamey Meadows. Some of his other performances have been stilted and unresponsive, and even his well executed turn in The Leading Man falls short of being truly impressive due to his character's marked similarity to his own public face. In Row Your Boat, on the other hand, Jon Bon Jovi shines. A man of commanding presence and charm when fronting his rock band, Bon Jovi is utterly believable here as a slightly awkward down and out dominated by his older brother. His responsive and committed interactions with the other cast members are what set this performance apart from his others, and credit must be given to the director for drawing out such an impressive performance where other directors have failed.In all, a gem of a movie which has sadly been overlooked. Its limited release is a real shame.
