Million dollar rubbish

Rating: 3/10 (20 July 2005)

Am I the only one who thinks Million Dollar Baby is a terrible movie? It won best film, best director (Clint Eastwood), best actress (Hilary Swank) and best supporting actor (Morgan Freeman) at the Academy Awards. (And all four Oscars were prominently displayed during the cast interview.) I'd avoid plot spoilers for those who haven't seen it, but the plot is so clichéd, thin and predictable, I can't offer guarantees.
The only change to the old poor-boy-makes-good-boxing formula is that it's a poor girl this time.
Hilary Swank is pretty good and the boxing scenes are fairly well choreographed, but neither are good enough to rescue the movie from dreary predictability. The direction is marginally competent in places, and I even think I spotted Clint act at one point. Otherwise, his caricature of a bitter old grouch was simplistic and one-dimensional.
But neither Swank's efforts, nor Morgan Freeman's characteristic likability, could save the movie from a premise that is such a tired old workhorse that I'm surprised anyone bothered with it. It's a politically-correct Rocky rehash.
Apparently, it made everyone who read the script cry, so that justified making it. Well, I cried during The Champ. But that was 30 years ago.
This was pure self-indulgence on the part of Clint Eastwood. The grand question that tears at his soul was the cherry on top. "Look how strong and moral and basically good I am!" It was shot in 37 days. That shows. Even the screenwriter said he was surprised that his first draft was shot. He wouldn't have done that, and he would have been right not to. There were a loose ends all over the place, implausible scenarios (you'd think fingerprints in the hospital ward would have been an issue), and a lot of stock scenes that could have done with some disguise.
And how about that pukey guy talking to Eastwood, Swank and Freeman on the DVD cast interview afterwards? I'd be embarrassed to be interviewed by such a fawning fool. "I know I shouldn't say 'genius', but *sigh* GENIUS *faint*". It was creepy.
Swank made the only worthwhile contribution, both in her effort in the role, and in commenting afterwards that the movie did something for female boxers. It's not all just crude trailer-trash violence, and some of these women deserve a bit of respect - and self-respect.
But other than that, it was a load of codswallop. A waste of money. I give it three out of ten, as a consolation prize to Swank. Clint Eastwood - of whom, incidentally, I'm a big fan - gets nada.