Cinderella Man is not only one of the best sports movies ever made, it is also a cold shower to generations that have the Grapes of Wrath as their only Great Depression reference.
This film is based on the life of champion boxer Jim Braddock. I never actually heard of him before watching this film, but his story rivals even that of fictional characters such as Rocky Balboa. Not only do you have the emotional roller coaster that is a boxing career, but this film really memory burns you with some scenes of what life was like during the Great Depression. Specifically the Hooverville/Central Park scene.
Russell Crowe, even though he's portraying an extremely strong and tough character, has one of his most vulnerable performances I've ever seen. It was as if he combined the strength of Maximus (Gladiator) with the humanity of John Nash (A Beautiful Mind).
Another major player in the film is Paul Giamatti as Joe Gould, Braddock's trainer and promoter. I think Giamatti is one of the very best actors currently in the film industry. I also think it was a crime that he did not win the Best Supporting Oscar for this role, although he was nominated. Giamatti's portrayal of this character could be characterized as the stereotypical 1920's boxing trainer with his loud mouth and simplistic boxing strategies. However his performance is so strong and emotional, just from his facial expressions alone, that you may be able to convince someone that the stereotype originated from his performance.
Ron Howard, who has become one of the best directors out there, was snubbed again by the Academy Awards for his work on this film. The flow of the movie was flawless. You do not fall out of it for a second, and the boxing sequences are among the best in movie history. The boxers actually keep their hands up in this one. And of course brother Clint makes another historic cameo, this time as a referee.
There's nothing I like to do more than criticize, but I would only be nitpicking with this film. Renée Zellweger is not one of my favorite actors; there are a dozen women who could have played this role as well or better. But I really can't complain about her either, she puts up a very solid performance.
The only regret that director Ron Howard may have had making this film was the liberty he took with the heartless portrayal of antagonist Max Baer. The Baer family was very upset about the ice cold character played brilliantly by actor Craig Bierko (The Thirteenth Floor).
Cinderella Man is simply the greatest boxing movie of all time. People outraged by that statement would probably throw the original Rocky and Raging Bull in my face as the #1 contenders. Although those films have better titles and are phenomenal in their own right, they are simply not as well put together in a "boxing" sense. Sure Rocky won best picture in 1976, but you have to take in to account the time period in which it was nominated. Until Rocky, there were really no boxing films which combined such drama and action. Rocky was bigger than life in 1976. If Rocky was released today, it would be sliced and diced for its video game style boxing scenes. Also, Rocky is a fictional character and when you compare his story to that of Braddock, a real-life boxer, it just can't draw out the same emotion from the viewer. As for Raging Bull, which was also based on an actual boxer, it was nominated for best picture in 1980. That movie does not stand up to Cinderella Man simply because the boxing sequences are just not very good at all, which I'm sure was on purpose. Scorsese focused way more on the drama outside the ring and used the boxing as segways for different eras in La Motta's life. Raging Bull is really more of a scripted documentary with paid actors.
The ultimate combination of an amazing story with realistic and entertaining boxing, and then add that the whole thing is based on reality, elevates Cinderella Man as the undisputed heavyweight champion of boxing films.
Story: 9
Acting: 9.5
Writing: 8.5
Captivation: 9.5
Replay Value: 9.0
Total Score: 9.1
Member of the Boxxet Network of Blogs, Videos and Photos
