Rope-a-DOPE!

Rating: 2/10 (25 December 2001)

When Milos Forman released his Man on the Moon, people gave him grief for having simply dramatized what anyone could have seen in the latest VH1 documentary. Michael Mann's ALI falls short of even Man on the Moon... and Mann has When We We're Kings to reckon with. There are only two lessons ALI teaches: 1. Will Smith is only a believable ALI impersonator when he is speaking--email me if you honestly thought he reminded you of Muhammad when he didn't have dialogue as his crutch. 2. Never have I wanted to rescreen Spike Lee's MALCOLM X more than after ALI.