Cinderella Man

Starring: Russell Crowe, Renee Zellweger, Paul Giamatti, Craig Bierko
Directed by: Ron Howard
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Drama, Sports
2005

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: During the Great Depression, boxer Jim Braddock (Russell Crowe) faces hard times trying to provide for his wife (Renee Zellweger) and small children, as well as coping with his finished boxing career. When his manager (Paul Giamatti) gets him another shot, Braddock responds and serves as a beacon of hope to impoverished America and he rides his "second chance" to a title shot against a killer foe.

Review:

Tim: This is a good film that tries to be another Ron Howard-Russell Crowe masterpiece, but comes up far short. These two have been in so many terrific films. Crowe himself has A Beautiful Mind, Gladiator, and The Insider to his credit. This film strives to be included among them, but no matter how hard it tries, it'll never be a great film. Part of the problem is that we aren't invested emotionally enough in the movie. Sure, we care what happens, but the truly great movies impact us emotionally, and this one does not.

Crowe is good, but for some reason doesn't measure up to his performances in other films. The boxing scenes are all very believable and realistic, but the other scenes don't pack the punch (pun intended) that they need to. Crowe's performance is a notch or two lower than it needs to be. Renee Zellweger is good as well, but she too, could be a little bit better. She is very strong in the role, but it won't be garnering her any awards. Paul Giamatti is very good as well and continues his trek towards achieving "the most underrated actor in Hollywood" status.

While this film does have its flaws, it is still a relatively interesting biopic about a fascinating boxer. The movie is also an excellent look at the Great Depression. This event hit Americans extremely hard, and through Braddock, we see how terrible this time really was.

Boxing fans and those who love dramas should find enough here to satisfy them. I oftentimes wonder why films like this, that seem to have every single thing going right for it (cast, director, subject), just come up short. I do not have an adequate answer for this, but Cinderella Man is a textbook example of such a film.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: A Beautiful Mind, Gladiator, The Insider, Rocky, Raging Bull