Wasn't that good, but not terrible

Rating: 6/10 (28 February 2005)

I came into this movie with high expectations. I had the choice of either seeing Sideways and this, and I chose this, because I was seeing it with my father, and he preferred to see this. From what I hear of Sideways, this was a bad choice. Million Dollar Baby was one of the greatest letdowns in a movie I have ever seen. I have a couple of beefs with this movie; Firstly, useless scenes that do not advance the characters or the movie, or the movie itself. For instance, the scene in which **SPOILERS** Danger gets beaten up and then Morgan Freeman drops the guy who did it to Danger. It had no point, and served no purpose of any major consequence to the movie. Also, the majority of scenes between Clint Eastwood and the priest. It told us more about the priest's character than Clint's. At this point I just want to say Hilary Swank's acting was great, and in all honesty, she was the highlight of the movie. Clint Eastwood was... Well... Clint Eastwood. He's been playing the same character with different jobs and names for the past 20 or so years, just like Woody Allen. Not saying I don't like Woody, (which I do, big fan), but it's hard to believe he (Clint) was nominated for a best actor award for essentially playing himself. None of the other actors really shone in it, but that was mostly due to a flimsy plot, with holes aplenty. In short, it was overall an enjoyable film, and I was at no point wishing I was somewhere else (besides in a theater playing Sideways), but there were a lot of problems with a movie that in no way deserved a Best Movie Oscar. See it when it comes on TV late night sometime. 6/10