Russell Crowe and Ron Howard win on points.

Rating: 8/10 (23 September 2005)

I'm not a fan of boxing, and I'm certainly not an admirer of Russell Crowe - but "Cinderella Man" may well be Ron Howard's best movie since "Apollo 13" (I've yet to see "A Beautiful Mind," but since Akiva Goldsman is the primary writer on that, I'm not holding my breath), and a rare sports movie that even I like.
At heart it's a feelgood movie, but the kind that reviewers can like without feeling guilty - no actual gloss, plenty of grit, and no cheating. Done with skill and care by the director and writers Cliff Hollingsworth and Goldsman, the story of boxer Jim Braddock's early promise and his toils through the Depression may wear its bid for Oscar glory a bit too obviously sometimes, but with Crowe as Braddock, the excellent Paul Giamatti as his trainer, Renee Zellweger as his wife and the rest of the cast on top form, you just don't notice enough for it to matter.
The boxing scenes are far from "Rocky"-type showbiz, though for some reason Braddock's fight against Lasky seems a bit more dramatic than his climax against Max Baer; but the best thing about the movie is that it would be just as gripping even without the violence (witness the second scene where he goes to the relief office). A few of the relationships are a bit sketchy - certainly that with his best friend could have been dealt with a bit more - but ultimately the movie keeps you going right up to the finish.
I'm finding it a lot easier to write about bad movies than good ones, so I'll just say that in spite of it not having Clint Eastwood, Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman, "Cinderella Man" is a genuine million dollar baby.