Jabbing away at your funny bone, but no knockout hit

Rating: 6/10 (30 January 2014)

'Packs a punch' . . . 'It's a hit' . . . 'Swings and misses' – I cannot promise a complete absence of the inevitable '*boxing puns in a review of something to do with boxing'. The ones that do make it in, however, will hopefully be of a quality higher than this fistful (*there's one already) of examples. That being said: ring the bell (*right), it's time to review Grudge Match.
Opportunistically billed (*already?) as a fight '30 years in the making', Grudge Match teams up two undisputed *(mmm) legends of their trade, Stallone and De Niro, for a sports comedy-drama that few would really have been 'waiting for', but succeeds for the most part in being a bout that you're glad they found time for. Of course this is, figuratively, Balboa vs La Motta, with both stars possessing the relative experience, training and filmography under their belts (*loose, that's loose) that goes back to the 70s and 80s with Rocky and Raging Bull. The output in terms of action in recent times has been in Stallone's corner (*yep), with the comedy in De Niro's; in any case, fighting for box-office is what these guys do.
Indeed, comparisons to Rocky Balboa hit right in the first round (*obvious?), with the out-of-touch use of the computer games industry being the catalyst for bringing the feud of Henry 'Razor' Sharp (Stallone) and Billy 'The Kid' McDonnen (De Niro) screaming into the 21st century. Certainly things don't look great from the outset. Following a hastily created and much-bettered attempt at using a Digital Head Swap technique for the opening montage showing Sharp and McDonnen in their prime, there's a cranky, and downright sloppy opening third which does not fail to establish the humour involved with some decent jokes already hitting their intended target (*very well) but does set the tone for the poor editing and confusing camera-work which is consistently distracting through most of the film. A new drinking game could be invented which responds to the amount of bizarrely unfunny and pointless exit lines from scenes which don't know how to end, and there are more than a few poorly chosen camera angles and cuts which are at their best annoying and at their worst immersion-breaking. There is also an undeniable laziness in the genericity of the characters and the construction of the narrative, as well as some cheap, dated and out-of- place racial stereotype comedy.
Soon enough, however, Grudge Match starts to find its feet and a great deal of momentum as the plot slowly thickens, and the match draws ever closer. Maybe it's the introductions of the great casting choices in the brilliant Alan Arkin and John Bernthal , playing Sharp's old trainer and McDonnen's estranged son respectively, or the undeniable charm and spirit that is delivered throughout via smile-inducing references and seeing the stars really relish their roles (especially De Niro). There are the expected Rocky-style montages, but they are intelligent and designed to fit with the characters' conditions – though not the actors', of course, as Stallone and De Niro are certainly not that out of shape! Granted, you're more likely to have that smile on your face if you grew up watching these guys in action, similarly if you can relate to the mockery created from amusing running gags on the uses of smart-phones to make silly events go 'viral', social networking, product placement and the wearing of green latex suits to capture performance art.
If you've made it to the middle section still at least mildly intrigued as to where all this is going, the best gags, the most touching dialogue and the strangest sights await you as Grudge Match lands hit after hit (*thought we'd moved on) in the face of cynicism and shamelessly believes in itself in an admirable kind of way. Director Peter Segal (50 First Dates; Anger Management) knows when to add that drop of sentiment in at exactly the right times - though this is arguably the least subtle of his films at doing so - and succeeds in creating a believable love- triangle story between the fighters and Sharp's ex-partner Sally, played by the occasionally missing, yet still strangely reliable Basinger. Arkin constantly threatens to steal the film in both dramatic and comedic terms, adding to the strong foundation of a supporting cast which, had it been weaker, would probably not have supported the film even with this headline act in place.
By the time the main event is unveiled, a decent amount of prep work has been put in place to make it entertaining if not outright enthralling. With a combined age of 137, you have to respect the energy both Stallone and De Niro have exerted in putting on as good a show as they can. Further, the film makes the decent gesture of attempting to transform the viewers' perspective from what the characters can't or didn't do to what they can and have now chosen to. There are quite a few critics already throwing in the towel (*yesiree) on Grudge Match, but I for one did not have the heart to, nor did I believe that would be doing any justice to a film that at least tries to gradually explore the age vs. ability question, as opposed to having them constantly state 'I'm old' in a cheap, Schwarznegger-comeback type way.
The drama may be bantam-weight in the end, but the comedy is more hits than misses (*I give up), leaving Grudge Match with a win on points on my scorecard. (*pun-o-meter full)
Rating: 6/10