Somebody Up There (at the Academy) Likes Me---8/10.

Rating: 8/10 (27 January 2005)

Somebody Up There (at the Academy) Likes Me----8/10.
Although the Hollywood hype machine is working overtime for this movie, I cannot anoint 'Million Dollar Baby' as the greatest movie of all time, let alone the best movie of this year, absolutely not. It's not even the greatest boxing movie of all time. If I were to judge 'MDB' against the body of work that Clint Eastwood has done up to this point, this movie would fall down to fifth or sixth on his directorial depth chart. Yes, it is better than 'Firefox', but there's no way this movie could be rated higher than 'Mystic River' or 'Play Misty For Me'. However, I will concede that Clint has surpassed his bloated and overly decorated western 'The Unforgiven'; a movie that I, admittedly, didn't get at all, and to this day, still can't believe how it ever received the award for best picture over 'Reservoir Dogs' (which wasn't even nominated, what a crime) or 'Howard's End' or even 'A Few Good Men'.
History may be repeating itself to a certain extent this year at the Academy Awards. Clint could very well be walking away with not only the Best Picture Award, but also the Best Director Award. If you believe the media hype of 'MDB' (and 80% of the comments on 'IMDB'), he's already won the awards. However, the Academy may snub Clint and his bid for the Best Director and Best Picture Award by wanting to acknowledge instead the man responsible for making the best boxing movie of all time; Martin Scorsese. Martin could win it for 'The Aviator'. Talk about 'Fly There and Drive Back'.
From what I could see, the underlying problem with 'MDB' is the plausibility of human drama. There are too many situations where I thought to myself, 'Surely that could never have happened the way they did it'. Whereas most people want a strong plausibility for the human drama, most people don't have a problem with the implausibility of comedy. For instance if Harpo Marx pulls a birdcage out from underneath his trench coat, then proceeds to pull out a fish, a cup of coffee and the silver ware for a party of 20, nobody balks at all, it's a perfectly acceptable scenario. But if Clint Eastwood calmly walks into the ICU in the middle of the night with a bag of needles jacked up with adrenalin on his way to euthanize Hillary Swank while at the same exact moment a hospital staff member needs to get a cup of coffee leaving Clint free to do his mercy killing, that starts to feel very implausible. It is possible, I guess, it's just too neat and tidy for the movie, especially a movie that has quickly become an instant classic. There are enough scenes like this one that undermine what is mostly a very enjoyable movie. But can a scene like this really be in a serious drama for best picture? I hope not.
There are many fine performances in the film. Clint is good as the trainer/surrogate father figure and boss. Morgan Freeman is excellent as the same guy who narrated 'The Shawshank Redemption' or at least that's what it feels like to me. But it is Hillary Swank who is the true standout performer in the film. Swank plays Maggie Fitzgerald, the undefeated not so young new comer. There are many times in the film where her energy just wills the scene to be good. Her bonding scenes with Clint come across as convincing and turn out to be very moving. If 'MDB' steals any Oscar's, hers would be acceptable.
I would be remiss if I didn't also submit my disapproval of the character 'Danger Barch'. Judging by the groans I heard in the movie theater upon his reappearance at the end of the film, I was not alone in my disapproval. I was hoping that when Morgan Freeman put on that boxing glove, that he was doing so to finish him off.
If only the implausibility of many scenes could have been tightened up and straightened out before production. If only the producers could have seen a way to erase the part of 'Danger Barch'. If only it could a been a contenderactually, it is a contender and perhaps even a winnerbut if it is a winner, it will be clear to me that Maggie wasn't the only one to take a fall. It's good, it's just not that good.
8/10. Clark Richards