Moving movie, needed a director who understood boxing

Rating: 8/10 (18 October 2006)

Boy was this heartfelt, with fine acting.
Problem is, the boxing scenes were some of the most obviously staged, unrealistic, in memory. Howard did not seem to know what a realistic fight scene would look like.
Crowe - marvelous actor - should have put in a bit of the effort made by Hilary Swank, who learned how a boxer moves, punches, reacts.
Plus - the soundtracks consists of several examples of jazz - bebop, a late-thirties/early forties creation - that did not exist until at least a decade after the period of the film. Like putting Led Zeppelin in a Buddy Holly movie.
But I watched it for a third time. I must have liked it.