Despite a few foibles this inspirational tale is excellent.
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John's Introduction:
Maybe it was the title that put people off. It sounds like it might be about princesses and mice and glass slippers and despite its starring Russell Crowe and being directed by Ron Howard, audiences stayed away in droves. But "Cinderella Man" is assuredly not a fairy tale except in the figurative sense.
The movie tells the real-life story of boxing champion James J. Braddock, who held the heavyweight belt from 1935 to 1937. He was dubbed the "Cinderella Man" by writer Damon Runyon because of the seemingly impossible, fairy-tale nature of his rise to stardom. Braddock wasn't supposed to win, but he did, and he became an inspiration to millions of downtrodden Depression-era Americans who saw him as a ray of hope for themselves and the country.
Nevertheless, today's moviegoers weren't buying it, probably because they didn't know the nature of the movie's hero or his background, so the studio did something highly unusual in Hollywood. They backed what they thought was an unappreciated underdog. When they saw the movie floundering, the studio made a deal with viewers through their newspaper ads: If ticket buyers didn't like the film after they had seen it, the studio would refund their money. The studio was that confident people would like this film if they would simply give it a chance. The studio was right; it's a good film, and while it never quite made its money back at the box office, it could go over the top in DVD receipts.
Justin's Review:
I´m a sucker for sports movies. The downtrodden fighting back against all odds to overcome adversity… the kid who fights to get his shot while the world tells him he can´t… the father and son who reunite over a simple game. There are dozens, if not hundreds, of decent-to-good sports movies out there, though there are generally only a couple of themes that were perfected in "The Bad News Bears" and "Rocky." And yet the fertile ground of sports continues to provide us with ready-made drama for the silver screen (see also: "Coach Carter").
But not all the great stories are contemporary; in fact you might find the story of a football player you never heard of, who worked his way through college and the pros (back in the days before million-dollar contracts), who gave back to the community like no other, quite inspirational. Similarly, just because a sports figure is out of the public eye (see also: Muhammad Ali) doesn´t mean their story shouldn´t be captured and told for all to know and revere.
It seems like boxing stories are the most fertile for interesting narration. Generally boxers don´t come from well-to-do families; it´s why they learned how to fight. Most get beaten to a pulp and disappear before ever having a match at the Garden, which is why those who do gain notoriety (or in some cases infamy) are so interesting to us. Such is the story of James J. Braddock in "Cinderella Man."
Braddock (Russell Crowe) is a hard-nosed Irish man who is certainly a product of his times. Using abuse to his body as a way to escape the difficulties of the Great Depression, Braddock is a true American success story. The film picks up on different segments of Braddock´s life to draw a complete picture of the difficulties and triumphs that the family went through during the worst economic periods in the US.
The movie is more reflective of modern biographical films like "Ray" and "Ali" in that it builds to a conclusion but keeps its focus on the story of a life. It´s more like a greatest hits of the events that crushed Braddock and what he did to fight, quite literally, back. It´s because we generally know where the film is running that we can put up with the ambling pace of the first fifty minutes of the movie. It sets the tone and establishes characters (nicely) but doesn´t really go anywhere; the situations change but the people who reside in them are pretty much the same at the beginning as they are in the end.
Crowe is excellent as Braddock, he seems like more than just an actor playing a role; he encompasses the world of the boxer. Though he looks great as the tough boxer who lives in the ring, Crowe has an amazing dynamic with the kids. He´s strong, paternal, and loving; a tough role to pull off. I saw no Maximus, no Jeffery Wigand, and no John Nash in Jimmy Braddock. He did not deserve the Oscar for "Gladiator:" He will have earned it for "Cinderella Man."
The rest of the cast is hit-and-miss for me. I love Paul Giamatti as an actor and he plays a great manager in his Joe Gould. Renee Zellwegger does a decent job as the Depression-era Mrs. Braddock, but she also seems contrived and routine; familiar but not in a good way. Most of the time, when she was on screen, I was taken out of the picture. Outside Crowe´s Braddock everyone keeps one foot in the contemporary era, never selling out to create a slice of life. It´s almost there, but there was something that kept reminding me that I was watching a movie.
Craig Bierko (who plays Max Baer) and Bruce McGill (who plays the fight promoter Jimmy Johnston) team up to create a decent antagonist, but the true challenge to overcome is the society everyone exists in. The final fight is a poetic allegory that represents the fight every man, woman, and child faced during the Great Depression. I won´t tell you how it ends, but I´ll just say that the movie left me with chills.
Director Ron Howard, who I often criticize for creating films that are overly sentimental, does a good job in restraining himself while presenting this Cinderella story but falls into many of the same traps of going for the easy setup and payoff. Sick kids, turning off the power, broken hand, giving up (and later finding) God… it´s all so familiar. Slow close-ups, mixed with manipulative (if beautiful) music made me pause. The same goes for the sudden death of Braddock's friend Mike (Paddy Considine); it plays more like a "feel sorry for me" moment than an actual piece of the narrative.
The production design of the film is amazing. Everything (except Rene Zellwegger) looks like it was lifted directly out of the 1930s. The colors may seem a little drab and dull, but let´s remember that this wasn´t exactly the heyday of neon; it´s again reflective of our expectations of how the period is supposed to look. Cars, houses, dress; everything looks right.
The other thing that's worth mentioning about the film is the editing. Though the first hour is pretty slow, once the boxing starts rolling, the movie rolls along with it. There are some very clever cuts that get us into the mind of an addled boxer without sacrificing the larger story. Gimmicks are nice when they advance the story, and the work here is great.
Going in to "Cinderella Man," anyone familiar with the sports film genre knows generally what is going to happen. We know that the protagonist is going to go through a challenge and that, by the film´s end, they will have overcome many obstacles to reach their destination (the final fight). They may not win ("Rocky," "Mystery, Alaska") but they will have earned the respect of the crowd and their opponent. But, to paraphrase Aerosmith, the film´s a journey, not a destination. Of course the destination ain´t too bad and, despite a few foibles, this inspirational tale is excellent.
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[release]16712[/release]