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Most casual boat owners will agree, the two happiest days of the endeavor are the day you buy your vessel and the day you rid yourself of it. Buster Keaton essentially accomplishes both in the same twenty-four hours in this nautically-themed short. Having constructed a live-in yacht in the luxury of his basement-level garage, he hazardously takes it to sea and immediately undergoes a series of worst-case scenarios on the water before finally, unceremoniously, disposing of the whole accursed affair.
As usual, the fun lies in watching Keaton exaggerate relatable life experiences, encountering a common irritant and completely failing to contain the problem before it all blows up in his face. It's a trait that's hereditary, evidently, as this time he's joined by a wife and two young kids that do him no favors, falling overboard or starting metaphorical fires as mindlessly as Keaton himself nails a hole in the hull to hang a framed painting.
By most accounts, this short was originally conceived as the third act of a true feature-length comedy, combining the turbulent courtship of The Scarecrow with the post-nuptial home ownership disaster of One Week, before concluding with this mid-life cataclysm. Those grander aspirations never came to pass, and by comparison to the others,The Boat feels like the thinnest act. The opening volleys are inventive and hilarious, great examples of Keaton's knack for ingenuity in both comedy and engineering, but the plot soon overstays its welcome and the at-sea bits tend to feel a bit dreary and over-long. Entertaining, at least, but not one of the silent comic's very best.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
03/30/23
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Audience Member
You're gonna need a bigger boat. Our man (Buster Keaton) resides on a small houseboat with his family, but finds sea-life riddled with difficulties. I will start this off by saying that while I have an unabashed affection for this man, this is one of his lesser shorts. That said, Buster's worst is better than many people's best, so there's always that. He is such an athlete, and he's not afraid to take a boot to the face to get a laugh. If faces could win awards, I would give him recognition for just his shorts alone, and he is always pulling gags that take you by surprise. The special effects are believable (especially given this was made in 1921), and this is even after they show you how they accomplish some of these effects in the opening scene. The "tumbler" scene is impressive (you'll know it when you see it), and I love how he created this character where construction nails are his answer to everything. I wouldn't call The Boat a must see, but if you watch it, you won't be disappointed.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/26/23
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Audience Member
Not my favorite but the sinking boat gag is hilarious!
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
02/16/23
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Audience Member
Buster builds a boat to take out on the ocean wit his wife and kids, but things don't work out and just get worse and worse.
The Boat is god damn hilarious. The movie is really funny too. Haha. Anyway, It's up there with some of Buster's funniest shorts, and it's a pretty great time. There's loads of physical comedy magnificence that only Buster could pull off that's just a delight to witness.
There's not really anything else to attribute to the film aside from hilarity. The story's not bad, but oddly enough, the story is simultaneously amusing and saddening, because much of the film's comedy comes from the family's miserable outing. It's a bit strange but easy to shrug off. The jokes are great though, there's some really fantastic clever jokes and some insanely awesome sight gags. There aren't that many crazy stunts that you might expect from Stone Face, but everything else you'd expect from him is present and accounted for.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
01/28/23
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Audience Member
Keaton faces and "masters" the element of water in this charming and funny film about a family going out to sea in a rather shoddy boat.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/15/23
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Audience Member
Not the typical setting of his films, The Boat has a somewhat difficult tone, even though the same comedic situations arise from the eccentric ideas of the character Buster portrays.
Rated 4/5 Stars •
Rated 4 out of 5 stars
02/20/23
Full Review
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