Thousand Dollar Baby

Rating: 7/10 (28 July 2006)

Eastwood and Freeman are good as the grumpy and wise, respectively, old men running a boxing gym but the film belongs to Swank, who is terrific as a determined female boxer. The boxing scenes are well staged. However, some of the characters are cartoonish and the plot is implausible. Maggie's family is portrayed as poor white trash without a single redeeming quality. It is hard to believe that Maggie, who is an angel, could have come from such a family. The plot device of Eastwood unable to connect with his daughter while building a relationship with Swank is too obvious. It explores some serious themes but treats them superficially. All in all, it is well-acted by the three stars but it certainly is not worthy of Best Picture or Best Director Oscar.