No knock out

Rating: 6/10 (31 July 2013)

After the success of A Beautiful Mind, Russell Crowe and Ron Howard teamed up again for Cinderella Man.
Now that Howard is an Oscar winning director, the story gets more ponderous and longer. He can also attract the best talent so we have Paul Giamatti and Renee Zellweger as part of the cast.
Crowe plays Jim Braddock, a depression era boxer who was down on his luck, in poverty who gets the chance to get back to boxing and ends up getting a shot at the World Heavyweight Championship.
In that case it's an inspiring and uplifting tale. However one of the writers of this film is Akiva Goldsman, I do not care if he has an Oscar for Best Screenplay. He is a supreme hack. I refer you to Batman & Robin as Exhibit A.
Howard who is one of the last protégé of Roger Corman who used to make zippy films in the 1980s but over the years has become more bloated.
In this film you feel some of the moves the director will make will be telegraphed just like a bad boxer.