One of the most infuriating laws of filmmaking is that a good story doesn’t always turn into a good movie. The Finest Hours has a great story—the unbelievable rescue of the SS Pendleton‘s crew by the US Coast Guard during a brutal nor’easter—but it’s sunk by unnecessary embroidery and an unpleasantly sappy script. When the movie sticks to the actual rescue, it’s a white-knuckle adventure, but there’s also a lot of bullshit the filmmakers should’ve tossed overboard.
Ned Lannamann is a writer and editor in Portland, Oregon. He writes about film, music, TV, books, travel, tech, food, drink, outdoors, and other things. More by Ned Lannamann