A good-natured send-up of the movies that made them famous.

Rating: 9/10 (6 January 2014)

I confess it. I had never of Sylvester Stallone prior to the original ROCKY. I had never heard of Robert DeNiro prior to RAGING BULL. And, I had never heard of Kevin Hart until this movie!
Stallone and DeNiro have proved more versatile, over the years, than most of their fans give them credit for. The latter, in particular. Prior to AWAKENINGS, DeNiro only seemed able and/or content to play the same type of character; a blue-collar loudmouth who swore in thirty-second spurts every five minutes like clockwork! But, I'm glad to say that changed (or, perhaps, just my appraisal had) in the twenty years following that.
Even so, it's nice to see him back in the type of film role that helped make him a household name among all those who weren't old enough to see TAXI DRIVER in movie theaters.
As for Stallone? He and Alan Arkin--as "Lightning Lou" Conlon, "Razor" Sharp's aging coach--have great screen chemistry. From their hilariously straight-faced parody of Stallone's now-classic use of frozen beef as a punching bag. To Arkin's accapella "mating" dance while Razor is on the telephone, trying to arrange a date with his ex-girlfriend (played by the still-beauteous Kim Basinger).
The only thing that keeps me from giving this a perfect ten? Kevin Hart's performance as Dante, Junior. I'm sorry, but there's no gentler way to put this.
Hart sounded like he was competing in a Chris Rock Sound-alike Contest...and losing!
Other than that, I enjoyed this film, immensely. Much to my pleasant surprise. :-)