Painfully slow first hour weakens a very good Depression era drama

Rating: 7/10 (21 June 2005)

This is the story of Jim Braddock a "washed up" fighter and one time championship contender who manages to turn a fluke chance into something more. Its a rousing story about a man who although appears to have hit bottom manages to pull himself up again for the sake of his family.
Word has this as an early contender for numerous Oscars, unfortunately audiences have yet to find this film, which as of this writing is disappearing from theaters. Having seen the film I can understand why people are staying away from this screenings, its badly paced and at two and a half hours it seems twice that.(This will play better on cable and DVD) This isn't to say that its a bad film, its not, its just that the film takes about an hour before it shows any real signs of life. Its not the fault of the actors, who are pretty much excellent across the board. You can't really blame the director, Ron Howard, either since this is a beautifully made film. The fight scenes are simply some of the best ever put on the screen. The fault is squarely on the script which takes forever to get where its going. Its a solid hour of how bad life is in the Depression and how hard it is for Braddock to support his family. It just seems to go on and on and on. Later in the film the seems to repeat the same notes again and again as if to show how far Braddock has risen. I got the point early and didn't need to be reminded over and over. I 'm of the opinion that you could probably remove thirty minutes out of this with out losing anything.
I must say that this is a very good film once it gets moving and absolutely worth seeing, though its probably going to play better sitting on your couch where you can stretch out during the opening slow bits.
Seven out of ten.(really seven and a half)