A brilliantly competent drama

Rating: 9/10 (22 December 2006)

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
The scene is New York, 1930s. The Wall Street Crash has taken a devastating toll on the people of the Big Apple and the great depression is in full swing, with many of the population living below the poverty line. One of those people is former champion fighter James J Braddock (Russell Crowe), his wife Mae (Renee Zellweger) and their two children. Braddock's career slumped years ago, and now he's getting by with the occasional work at a docking yard and even living off Relief Aid. But he becomes determined to regain his self esteem, get himself in shape and re-train to once again become the people's champion, this time managing to lift the spirits of the nation as well as reclaiming his honour as one of the greatest boxing heroes ever.
There's just too many films released these days, and no matter what sort of great reviews or cult acclaim they get, I just don't get enough time to see them all and am most likely only to be guaranteed to see the big name, box office hits. Cinderella Man was one of those films that just went right over my head when it first came out, and I've only got round to seeing on the off chance now. I'm quite glad I did, though, because although it's not overly memorable or inspiring, it is a very rewarding and absorbing film to sit down and watch. The main star and the director may have been one reason why I never rushed out to see it, as they're the same team behind, IMHO, the slightly over-rated (especially in light of 2001's other Oscar nominated heavy-weight Training Day!) A Beautiful Mind but messrs Crowe and Ron Howard have pulled this film off with considerable aplomb. None of the performances are particularly brilliant, but Crowe, Zellweger and a supporting cast including Paul Giamatti and some recognizable bit part actors manage to keep things moving engagingly enough and then some.
So then we are left with a film that didn't make a huge impact at the box office and was shadowed over by some (even with it's Oscar nominations) but is beyond watchable nonetheless. The story of the under dog rising to the top through boxing has been done before in films like Rocky and it doesn't do anything particularly surprising or exceptional, but it's a believable, well made and fairly well acted tale that is well worth seeing. ****