“Adrift” is the true story of Tami Oldham (Shailene Woodley) and Richard Sharp (Sam Claflin), who accept an offer from a wealthy couple to sail their boat from Tahiti to California. Along the way they encounter one of the most catastrophic hurricanes in history, causing their boat to be wrecked and stranded at sea. As the film unfolds through a series of flashbacks, we live through the buildup of their relationship as well as the disaster itself.
Woodley is the star here as she is the center of the story and comes through with a strong performance. She is asked to hold this film up on her own, and she does. I’ve become a fan of hers recently, as she really shows her acting chops in HBO’s “Big Little Lies.”
I didn’t expect a lot of “Adrift,” and it isn’t a bad movie, but it is a bit slow for my liking. Even though it is only one hour and 36 minutes, there were many times I picked up my phone to mindlessly scroll through Facebook as the film just didn’t hold my attention.
There are two aspects to the movie: survival and romance. I’m a sucker for survival movies so I was clearly here for that side of things. Although it does a fine job, much of the film is spent in flashbacks, showing us the budding relationship. It just isn’t really my style.
Although the movie seems like it is fairly low budget, the CGI and storm are very well done. I just wish there had been more.
Overall, I don’t think this movie does either side (romance or survival) particularly well and kind of drifts in the middle of being boring or not, and it has a predictable twist toward the end. It’s probably worth skipping this one.