After last year's Best Picture Oscar winner, Million Dollar Baby, which I STILL don't get (sorry Clint), I thought I would never want to see another boxing picture again. MAN, was I wrong! For two hours I was watching history be made in one of America's best riches to rags to riches stories. It's 1928 and James J. Braddock was on top of the world. He's a very good light-heavyweight boxer who's on his way to being the champion. He's making great money, has a nice family that he loves dearly and his future looks to be set in stone. Well, it was not to be. Two obstacles arise that turn his and his family's lives upside down, an injury to his right hand and a little thing called, The Great Depression. There's no work so he can't pay his bills; there's not enough food to eat and in the dead of winter he can't even keep his family warm. But all is not lost as he gets what few men get, a second chance! That second chance makes history and turns him into a folk hero/legend, though his name had been somewhat forgotten in recent years. He will be remembered now. Period pictures as opposed to contemporary stories are always harder to make. You have the costumes, set decorations, vehicles and scenery to recreate. One thing that is sometimes missing is the mood of the times they are attempting to take us back to. This picture puts us smack in the middle of the Depression and the audience cries when they cry and laughs when they laugh. We were THERE, thanks to director Ron Howard! The acting is top notch. Russell Crowe nails the title role, right down to the Jersey accent and missing tooth. Renée Zellweger as Mae Braddock (wife) was long-suffering and strong as she held the family together through extremely hard times. Paul Giamatti (Joe Gould) was the manager who believed and made the second chance happen. Bruce McGill was the ruthless promoter who wrote Jim off and the great Angelo Dundee had a cameo as the corner man. GREAT cast! I loved the story and the picture. I cheered, I laughed and I wanted this guy to win. The whole country wanted him to win in 1933 against Max Baer and we want him to win now, in 2005. This is a true American story. "I'm all prayed out." RECOMMENDATION: Grab up the whole family and treat them to a slice of Americana, at it's very best. RATED PG-13 for boxing violence. A little blood but don't let that keep you from this one! (Can you say Oscar?) TWO BATTERED, BROKEN BUT PROUD THUMBS UP (pugilistically speaking!)!!! Movie Review © 2005 by Terry Anderson |
