Cinderella Man

The stereotypical sports movie about a character which goes from glory to hell and back to the glory again. The story is OK, but nothing new. Crowe performs well, but it is not one of his best movies. Giamatti is great, as always but Zellwegger is too cheesy in her role. Just an entertaining movie without any more intentions.

This is a fine boxing movie, one that relies more on the fighter’s personal story than endless scenes of boxing brutality. James Braddock’s final rise to the championship was an inspirational example during the lull in between the headline-grabbing reigns of Jack Dempsey and Joe Louis, when the heavyweight title changed hands several times. My only complaint with Ron Howard’s film was its portrayal of Max Baer, the champion Braddock defeated to win the title. For dramatic purposes, they changed his personality and made him into a bullying, vicious person, to the point of making a crude…

Once Jim Braddock (Russell Crowe) breaks his hand in a fight, he discovers that his previously reasonably successful life in the ring has come to an end - and that puts him, wife “Mae” (Renée Zellweger) and their kids on skid row. He’s gone from making $8,000 from a fight to ferreting around the docks looking for work and taking state welfare funds so they can keep their children in their now electricity-free apartment. Then serendipity takes an hand as his former manager Joe Gould (Paul Giamatti) arranges a last-minute fight for him that might garner a meagre $250. It’s not a fight he’s…