pleasantly surprised

Rating: 8/10 (16 July 2016)

I'm a girl, so it's not surprise this isn't my kind of film. I only saw it because it was constantly playing on my movie channel and because it has a stellar cast. depending on which commercial you've seen, you know the catalyst that sets this film in motion. that's no surprise. what IS a surprise is how emotional this film ends up being, and and a great deal of that belongs to the IMPECCABLE performance of the actress playing the young daughter, Oona Laurence. yes, you feel Billy's pain and heartbreak and I've got to give Jake G his chops as I've never seen him this raw and emotional ('brokeback mountain' was a bore, so don't even cite that to me) but it's Laurence that absolutely destroys you in this film. I have no shame in saying this film made me cry multiple times. A BOXING FILM MADE ME CRY. WTF? anyway, near perfect film. only took away points because the violence was a bit much but i should have expected that from a boxing movie.