Shameless, Manipulative, but it Works

Rating: 8/10 (24 March 2006)

Yet another movie about the triumph of the spirit, filtered through the lens and overall vision of Ron Howard, and acted superbly by today's most masculine actor, Russell Crowe. This is the story of Jim "Jimmy" Braddock, and his rise from being down in the dumps during the Depression Era and becoming the biggest man in the world of boxing thanks to the solid support of his fierce manager Joe Gould (Paul Giamatti).
If it weren't such a well-told story and did not have the presence of Crowe and Giamatti, this would probably by a color-by-numbers tale of redemption. Ron Howard knows an audience and establishes a quick relationship with Braddock. He is seen as a stern but loving husband and father, a man who at the start of the film has to step down from boxing due to a hand injury which made him unbankable for business. In seeing him work the docks and in one painful scene, beg for money, we feel for him and root for his eventual success (even when many of us who may have read his bio know he went on to bigger and better things). The thing is, this story has been done one too many times to garner a moving outcome, so when the decisive fight between Braddock and Max Baer (Craig Bierko) takes place, there's the predictability of emotions but no real suspense. Our hero is a very good actor playing a dead role.
Even so, Cinderella MAN is a good film. Renee Zellweger brings in her own gutsy persona as Mae Braddock, which also benefits the film, but has little to do throughout. However, as a whole, there is less weight here than in A BEAUTIFUL MIND, and a little pigeon-holing in regards to the role of Max Baer -- seen mainly as a one-note baddie, again an old-trick of the hat to give the audience its Big Moment climactic villain (even when the real man was much different) -- but Crowe keeps on demonstrating just how powerful an actor he has become over the years of playing in American films.