Well made but hardly original

Rating: 5/10 (16 July 2005)

*** SPOILER WARNING *** (I am going to discuss the ending) I don't pay too much attention to the Oscars, but every so often a film that seems so clearly undeserving to me gets best picture, with all the attendant fuss, publicity, and increased sales. "Rocky" and "Chariots of Fire" were two not-particularly-special films that won Best Picture, and "Million Dollar Baby" is another.
If it hadn't won, I wouldn't have bothered to see it. The premise did not sound particularly interesting. It does speak well for Eastwood's effort that the movie held my attention even though I was prepared not to like it. It's a serious effort, but the more I thought about it, the less impressed I was.
Unfortunately, I already knew the ending, so the last 30 - 35 minutes of the movie had a kind of grinding inevitability about them. I can't really judge the ending fairly because of the spoiler, but half an hour seemed a bit long to lead up to the climax.
Ultimately the movie reminded me of another wildly overpraised story, "Love Story." Remember "What do say about a girl who died?" If you ever saw that flick, you know what I'm talking about. While "Million Dollar Baby" tries hard to be serious, it's really just a tear-jerker. Man finds girl, bonds with her against his initial reluctance, and has his heart broken. There's a touch of ambiguity, because we never learn exactly what becomes of Frank, but it's still a weeper.
Morgan Freeman, who won the Best Supporting Actor award, is good as always, but his character is a stereotype. Freeman has done more significant work elsewhere. Eastwood plays essentially the same ultra-laid-back character he's portrayed in his last few films. Hilary Swank probably deserved his Oscar, because she's the only performer who's playing a character that hasn't been shown on screen a few hundred times.
Her ogre-ish family are also stereotypes (the acting is good, but the characterizations are clichéd). Also we don't get much back story from her --- coming from a family like that, how did she turn out to be such a wonderful person? Well, that happens sometimes, but again, there's nothing new here.
It's not a bad movie by any stretch, but I would rather have spent my evening watching something else.