Disappointingly routine sports biopic

Rating: 6/10 (11 June 2005)

While I enjoyed this movie very much watching it, it's resonated with me so little I'd tell anyone who asks that it's just okay. I'd give it a slight recommendation, but only as a period piece, b/c it does a somewhat moving job recapturing the feel of the Great Depression. The characters are so flat I felt like I never even met them. The hero is just a complete saint and the villain so evil he brags about the fact that he killed an opponent. And of course, the hero must win so that he can keep his angelic family together and happy. When they pile stuff on like that, of course it's completely obvious what's gonna happen.
Perhaps some more focus on Braddock's career would have established him as an underdog much better. As it is, we see his early great days, then jump ahead to the depression where we see how much pain his family's in, and when he decides to box again it's mentioned in passing how his career went downhill after one fight. We do see a fight where he does poorly, but that's not enough. The championship match is apparently the greatest upset in boxing history, and I wasn't getting that vibe at all.
Perhaps some more focus on the depression would have been better. Paddy Considine had a memorable supporting character, but he's barely there. I think some newsreel clips or some more stuff in the "Hoovervilles" would have been great. The tagline says Braddock brought America to its feet when it was on its knees, so maybe if I got a better sense of how on its knees the country was the victory would have been much more inspiring. As it is almost everything is about Braddock and his wife, and they have such great hearts that of course they can't wind up unhappy! Maybe it would have been better if they gave the wife part to a character actress, instead of Renee Zellwegger who'd insist on hogging screen time. Oh excuse me, ACADEMY AWARD WINNER RENEE ZELWEGGER! Of course I'm biased b/c I can't stand her, so even though I love Russell Crowe I definitely didn't care about the family's togetherness.
Perhaps some more focus on the opponent Max Baer would have been great. I heard the new book about the fight by Jeremy Schaap focuses on both fighters, and that sounds like an interesting read. Apparently Baer spent the rest of his life remorseful about the fighter he killed, and he was one of the most popular champions ever. In the movie he's such a monster I couldn't take him seriously-the character was out of place in a drama as serious in tone as this one. I at least liked the goofy charm Craig Bierko brought to the part, in what I hope's a star making performance. Baer seemed kind of like a dopey monster as played by him-he actually reminded me of Biff in Back to the Future. Again, not a serious threat, but the only character who I thought brought some life to the proceedings. Paul Giamatti's one of my favorite actors, but I just thought he was given a typical gruff trainer role to work with here.
The movie's been mentioned as the first serious Oscar contender of the year, but I think the only areas where it deserves consideration are art decoration and cinematography.