Certainly good, but more standard than sweeping

Rating: 7/10 (12 November 2005)

With Ron Howard directing and Russell Crowe, Renee Zellweger, and Paul Giamatti starring, Cinderella Man was sure to be a worthwhile cinematic experience, if only it hadn't been released in the unsuitable summer months of blockbuster fever. It didn't help that previous DreamWorks summer hit Seabiscuit starred a horse (and was more emotionally uplifting without being too violent or predictable), or that Cinderella Man was preceded by last year's Oscar winner Million Dollar Baby or the lackluster NBC reality series The Contender. But even when taken out of context, Cinderella Man is a fine, elaborately and accurately produced (if minimalistic) Depression-era boxing-pic love story that simply doesn't go where no great movie hasn't gone before.
Crowe, as always, gave a studied performance that reflected his involved physical and mental preparation, not to mention his accent! Zellweger, I thought, was the most underrated of the bunch because she really held her own opposite Crowe, stealing many of his scenes as the heart-tugging emotional core of the story. Giamatti's supporting perf should earn him his first (and overdue) Oscar nomination, since it was a fun, snarky kind of role infused with vigor and heart - great for a character actor. Otherwise, though, Ron Howard's direction might have made an already unoriginal subject matter more predictable. Still, it was, without a doubt, a good movie, if not a great one - a film that was well-made, if neither innovative nor emotionally sweeping.