FLOAT (2024) - Mark Reviews Movies

Float, Lionsgate

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Review by Mark Dujsik | February 8, 2024

The bones of Float are definitely those of a cheap romance novel, and it's little surprise to discover that co-writer/director Sherren Lee has made some significant changes to a book that might be just that. Apparently, the Kate Marchant novel that forms the basis for this movie featured a teenage girl from Alaska who finds herself a fish-out-of-water in small-town Florida and falls for a teenage boy who teaches her how to swim—essentially finding what she wants and who she is by literally getting in the water.

Lee and co-screenwriter Jesse LaVercombe have transferred the setting to small-town Canada and aged up the main characters, while also making the protagonist the child of immigrant parents, whose high expectations for their daughter have help to get her far but also have prevented her from figuring out what she actually wants for her life. Learning even the basics of the source material gives one an appreciation for what the filmmakers have done with this adaptation, even though it might annoy or anger fans of the book.

It's just a shame about the gimmicky nature of this story. The movie comes close to focusing on its characters, without them depending on an assortment of contrivances and external complications, but there's only so much that can be done within the tight confines of this specific sort of tale.

The main character is Waverly (Andrea Bang), which is just enough of a unique name that it's bit distracting no one acknowledges that fact. She just completed medical school and will start her residency at a hospital when the summer ends. Thinking she'll be spending time with her parents over the summer, Waverly is stunned to hear that they've arranged for her to do some professional learning in Toronto instead. The parents moved back to Taiwan after putting their young daughter in a boarding school, and she hasn't seen them in four years, following the funeral for Waverly's grandmother.

Instead of going to Toronto, Waverly takes a flight to the small town of Holden, where her older sister Rachel (Michelle Krusiec) has made a life for herself as an artist. She doesn't tell her parents about her change of plans, ignoring her mom's repeated calls or lying that she's actually in Toronto. This is the first time Waverly has done anything for herself, and it's frightening and exciting.

Of course, though, there's a guy who enters the picture. He's Blake (Robbie Amell), a tall, muscular, and handsome man who lives next door to Rachel, is a lifeguard at the public pool and the local (seemingly unoccupied) beach, and has raised his younger sister Isabel (Sarah Desjardins) since the siblings' parents died many years ago. When Blake and the sister's boyfriend get into an argument, Waverly ends up knocked into the water, and after rescuing her, Blake offers to give the newcomer swimming lessons.

In theory, the ensuing romance is fine enough, but that's mainly because Lee and LaVercombe take the time to establish how alike these two are, despite how distinct their circumstances are. Neither has really had a chance to even think about who or what they want to be. Waverly's life has been determined by what her parents want for and expect of her, and Blake has needed to dedicate himself to raising his sister. In between those swimming lessons (One of them is literally steamy, which doesn't quite compensate for the absence of much sexual tension in something so routine), the two talk about feeling so bound to responsibilities and so uncertain about what they actually want out of life.

This element of the relationship is far more engaging than the bland, predictable romance that follows. There's not much chemistry between Bang and Amell, but that's partly because the two actors seem more invested in playing these characters than in playing up the long stares, the gentle touches, and the inevitable moments when things escalate. Some of that also comes from the obvious pattern of the romance, as the two go back and forth between insisting upon just being friends and succumbing to feelings that are never genuinely communicated here. The sole sex scene is anticlimactic, and that's not just because most of the action is kept off-screen.

The material is decidedly better as a character piece, because the filmmakers and actors genuinely seem to understand these two in ways that go beyond what the material demands. Those conversations, Waverly's dread of disappointing her parents, and Blake's fear that he's pushing away his sister when he only wants to protect her are far more involving than the romantic angle. When the story simply allows these characters to deal with that alone and together, it comes to life. The love story, which also isn't convincing since these two are clearly established as emotionally unavailable at the moment, stops it dead.

That's never more apparent than during the unexpectedly restrained third act, when Waverly finally confronts her parents. Float almost becomes an entirely different story at that point, but it's the most obvious sign that the work of developing Waverly's fears and newfound sense of freedom has paid off to some degree. Those scenes, like the more effective ones throughout the movie, allow this character to be and find herself, and the movie's final note serves as a firm reminder that the romance is only getting in the way of that.

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