Is this your kind of film? Go see it. Otherwise.......

Rating: 3/10 (11 June 2005)

People apparently need people on pedestals. The film indicates that depression era people considered James Braddock a hero, an underdog who gave them hope. That's nice. I have no use for sports heroes and I convey unto them no supernatural expectations. I have no use for Depression era movies or stories. Boxing to me is a modern day version barbarism. I do, however, insist that I can overlook all those caveats if the resultant film warrants. "Cinderella Man" fails. Russell Crowe can play a rugged well-meaning person and Renee Zellweger is a sufficiently capable actress. Still, there is a dullness and shallowness to their characters. The lives of real people can fail to be cinematic  perhaps that's the problem: if so, why make the movie at all? Oh, I forgot: people need heroes. Director Ron Howard has all the subtlety of a ballerina in cement overshoes and this film continues that tradition. Unobtrusive camera work is a foreign concept to the man. Brief street scenes suffer equally with the fight scenes. Music? Even Thomas Newton's soundtrack fails: "listen to his "Road to Perdition" instead. As the credits rolled, I considered: my companion enjoyed the film (she is a dedicated Russell Crowe-phile) and the Diet Pepsi was cold and bubbly. It was ultimately the film that lacked fizz.