Worth a watch...surprisingly

Rating: 7/10 (4 April 2016)

I was hesitant to watch this and (I'm sure like most others) went in with very low expectations but Grudge Match surprised me with constant laughs, a story with heart and was ultimately way better than I thought it was going to be.
Stallone and DeNiro do a great job as a pair of aging boxing rivals coaxed out of retirement to fight one final bout 30 years after their last match. I actually enjoyed DeNiro here which I haven't been able to say about him for ages what with his crappy comedy choices of late and Stallone is excellent even if his character is just another less mumbling version of Rocky, hard to differentiate the two there.
What really held this together was Kevin Hart and Alan Arkin, those two are absolutely fantastic. Jon Bernthal and his son balance the mix out nicely and I even enjoyed the Kim Basinger rekindled romance arc.
Surprisingly the part I liked the least was the actual fight which just kept reminding me of Rocky Balboa. There are also some very weird waxy CGI flashbacks showing the boxers in their prime, back in the eighties. 3/2/16