Spread too thin

Rating: Null/10 (9 January 2005)

It's hard for me to say exactly why I hated this movie. Hate may be a strong word, but I was angry with this movie and I will try here to explain exactly why.
This is one of those movies that seems to be trying too hard to pack in drama and, in doing so, it spreads itself too thin. I can identify what I would call three main plots of the movie. Frank's (Clint Eastwood) personal struggle with his past, Maggie's (Hillary Swank) struggle (with Eastwood's help) to become a champion boxer, and Maggie's struggles after the title fight. A good deal of time is spent developing all three, and, while they all work, I find that the movie packs too many knockout punches. One might think that these plots along with good performances by the actors would lead to a very poignant movie, but I find that it tries to hard. The movie doesn't seem to know what it is. It is a Rocky story (albeit with a girl this time), it's about an old man struggling with demons, it's about a girl struggling to overcome physical obstacles. We've, of course, seen all these before, and this is not enough in itself to make me hate the movie, but each plot is not told in enough detail. Maggie is a natural once she gets a little help from Frank. Frank constantly beats himself up over his daughter, but we never find out exactly why. There's Maggie's family, an over the top white trash "hillbilly" family that seems hellbent on being worthless and self-serving. We understand why Maggie wanted badly to get out, but we don't really know what lead her to be a boxer.
There's Morgan Freeman, whose job it is in this movie to help Frank and Maggie develop as characters, he has no real story of his own. I can get into movies that are less than uplifting, but this movie was ridiculous.
It was good, but not great, and, frankly, I don't see what all the fuss is about.