Spilt Decision, but give it a marginal win

Rating: 7/10 (15 April 2015)

"Grudge Match" stars Sylvester Stallone and Robert DeNiro as two former rival boxers who decide to duke it up in their geriatric time in a grudge match. Speaking of which, I have held a grudge against many Stallone movies not including "Rocky", "Rocky 2", "Cop Land" and "Cliffhanger". As far as DeNiro goes, I am not going to put up a fight here because a good 80% of his movies have been worthy, but even Bobby D. has been knocked down by a flew clunkers himself. I would not call "Grudge Match" a surefire winner but it still fell marginally into my ring of worthy comedies for 2013. Stallone stars as Henry "Razor" Sharp, the mild-mannered but off-putting of the two who unexpectedly retired before the initial scheduled grudge match 30 years ago. DeNiro co-stars as Billy "The Kid" McDonnen, the womanizing alcoholic who discovers he has as adult son from a previous affair; who by the way, the woman happened to be in love with Razor thirty years ago. Director Peter Segal added some fun to the piece by satirizing the Stallone & DeNiro infamous 70's boxer characters; Rocky Balboa and Jake LaMotta, respectively; but then again, he did not knock me out with his orchestration of the picture also. Stallone and DeNiro were adequate with their performances, but it looked more like an easy-peazy fun time for them. Kevin Hart was not exactly a formidable acting supporting sparring partner for Stallone & DeNiro with his over-the-top performance as an eager promoter. In the other ring, Alan Arkin looked lackadaisical with his performance as Razor's longtime trainer. Kim Basinger shows up here also as the woman that had a split decision as Sally, yes that girl, who romanced Razor but fooled around and fathered The Kid's kid three decades ago. Please don't have a grudge against me if "Grudge Match" is not your cup of tea; as I said, it's not a champion of a movie, but it had its moments; as most boxers do. *** Average