The haunting presentation of a much-told plot.

Rating: 10/10 (10 October 2005)

A middle-aged man with three kids at home and a wife he forever loved, struggling through tough financial conditions in a society that has played hard on him, becomes a mass hero after his miraculous rise to fame.
Yes, I've heard and seen such stories numerous times before. I know how this hero keeps idealism even under extreme poverty, I know what words he speaks when he tells his wife it'll be okay, I've seen how he remembers what he's fighting for every time he's down, I've seen how his faithful and loving wife always provides him support, and I know how common people always casts him as their idol in the struggle through life.
Yet, when I see "Cinderella Man", I shed a couple of tears at two places, I sit tight holding my breath each time Braddock receives a punch, and I clap after the last fight. The passionate work by Ron Howard and the haunting performance by Russell Crowe makes me almost one of the thousand 'ugly Jersey friends' that supported Braddock that night. You know what makes a film great? When you feel like you're a part of it.