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Adrift
By Jeffrey Anderson,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Intense survival-romance story is cheerless and clichéd.

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Adrift
Community Reviews
Based on 11 parent reviews
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Adrift is a beautiful movie!!
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What's the Story?
In ADRIFT, Tami (Shailene Woodley) wakes up to find that the boat she's on has been hit by a storm. She spots her boyfriend, Richard (Sam Claflin), clinging to a dinghy. She builds a new sail to reach him and hauls him aboard. His leg and ribs are broken, so Tami sets about pumping the water out from below, finding food and fresh water, and navigating toward the nearest land. In flashback, Tami and Richard meet in Tahiti and are immediately drawn to each other. They're hired to sail a yacht from there back to San Diego -- Tami's home -- and then the storm hits. Back in the present, Tami and Richard manage to catch rainwater, but their food starts to run out, and Tami, a vegetarian, must catch and eat fresh fish. And there's one more challenge to overcome, too.
Is It Any Good?
Switching back and forth between a drippy romance before the storm and intense amounts of anguish and suffering after it, this based-on-a-true-story survival movie is overly reverent. Actors love movies like Adrift because they can use their most intense, high-velocity emotional ammunition; Oscar voters tend to love them, too, and awards frequently follow. Woodley, who also produced, first appears lithe and muscular, and then later, wasted and gaunt; she also uses makeup to make herself look sun-baked and destroyed. Her commitment is impressive, so it's too bad that her co-star, Claflin, is so lackluster and that the resulting movie is so glum and dispiriting.
Director Baltasar Kormakur fails to use the flashbacks or flash-forwards to find any resting ground for the story (which is set in the '80s); it thrums at a constant, wearying high pitch. The score's wailing string section doesn't help. Worse, the screenplay uses what could be easily described as a cheat, especially for a movie that wears its "true story" credentials on its sleeve (it ends with real-life footage). It feels as if it's so constrained with the effort of honoring the tale's real subjects -- whose actual story is indeed remarkable -- that it can't do anything but recycle the genre's clichés.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about Adrift's violence. Are the gory wounds too intense, or do they fit with the story? What about the boat-smashing storm scenes?
How are sex and nudity portrayed? Is the couple responsible? Respectful? What other values are conveyed?
How are drinking and drug use portrayed? Are they glamorized? Are there consequences? Why does that matter?
Is Tami a role model? Does her poor relationship with her family change your view of her? Why, or why not?
What's the appeal of the survival genre? How does this film compare with other survival-at-sea movies?
Movie Details
- In theaters: June 1, 2018
- On DVD or streaming: September 4, 2018
- Cast: Shailene Woodley , Sam Claflin
- Director: Baltasar Kormakur
- Inclusion Information: Female actors
- Studio: STX Entertainment
- Genre: Drama
- Run time: 120 minutes
- MPAA rating: PG-13
- MPAA explanation: injury images, peril, language, brief drug use, partial nudity and thematic elements
- Last updated: June 20, 2023
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