Unsentimental and dull

Rating: 4/10 (17 January 2011)

The Fighter
In this true-life sports film, a boxer fights against himself and outside influences to excel against all odds and earn that elusive title shot. In other words, it's virtually identical to every other boxing movie. It's distinguishable only in that the f-word is used about three times a sentence and that Amy Adams gives an improbably iron-willed performance as Mark Wahlberg's bartender girlfriend. But overall, the movie is completely forgettable.
Micky Ward (Wahlberg) is a small-time fighter from the mean streets of Lowell, Massachusetts; his older brother Dickie Eklund (Christian Bale) is a former pro who once knocked Sugar Ray Leonard down, so naturally the elder wants the younger to succeed. Trouble is, Micky not only is beset by self doubt (he's lost three fights in a row), he also has to put up with his crackhead half brother and his overbearing, greedy mother (Melissa Leo). So, again, like most other boxing films.
True to form, the movie takes us through Micky's career, first as a stepping stone for other fighters and then, gradually, to the bigger time (Las Vegas and then England). The first half of the movie contains little actual fighting in a ring, then there's a boxing montage (original!) depicting several fights in the space of a couple of minutes, all leading up to the inevitable title bout.
For a movie that uses so much profanity, this one was awfully dull. Hardly anything happens that isn't completely predictable. It's almost as if director David O. Russell set out to make a parody of boxing films. This movie doesn't just use clichés indiscriminately, it robs the cliché bank blind.
It's obvious to the audience from the get-go that Micky's family is holding him back (especially his crazy mother and addict brother), so it's no surprise when he makes the hard decision to move on without them - just as it's no surprise that somehow they wind up helping him, anyway. Part of what inhibits things is the fact that everyone surrounding Micky seems to be more caricature than character. Everyone's weird just to be weird, outlandish just to try to stand out.
And none of it rings true, not for a second - except for Adams as Charlene. Now, if you've seen Amy Adams in anything, you'd be hard pressed to imagine her as a foul-mouthed barkeep who wears short shorts and low-cut tops. And yet here she is, and among all the hysterical, chaotic performances hers is the true standout. She brings a lot more depth to Charlene than anyone else does to their own roles.
The worst of the lot is the otherwise-talented Melissa Leo, who plays Alice Ward as if she were the queen of harpy shrews. Alice berates everyone with a nicotine-tinged screech designed to set your teeth on edge. She also appears to be patterned directly after Linda McMahon of the WWE (and most recently a candidate for governor of Connecticut), complete with hair color and style. It's not a favorable comparison.
One mistake that the movie makes concerns its identity. Is it a serious sports drama? Sometimes, yes; but other times it lapses into basic slapstick. Micky's sisters (or half sisters, I lost track) are like a coven of parrots that exist merely to be the Greek chorus of anger toward anyone they perceive as threatening their family (like, say, Charlene) or to cheerlead for Micky. When the sisters and dear ol' mom figure decide to head over to Charlene's house to scream at her, the scene quickly devolves into Keystone Kops and vaudeville. Rather than being comic relief, it's just sort of embarrassing to watch.
All that aside, what really underlines the inept nature of this beast is that the lead characters aren't emotionally engaging, or engaging on any level. By the end, I didn't care if Micky Ward got his title bout, as I found him spineless and stupid and merely an average (looking) boxer. I didn't care at all about his ne'er-do-well brother Dickie, even after he's sent to jail, as I found him obnoxious and dimwitted (even though he loves his bro, surprise!). I didn't care about Alice, who spends 95% of the movie cursing people out for no good reason. It's tough caring about characters when they simply don't give you any reason to. So when bad things happen to them, you're not affected.
It's often unfair to compare movies if they were released decades apart. But we can compare The Fighter with 2005's Cinderella Man, which was also based on a real-life fighter. Russell Crowe and director Ron Howard crafted a story that was plausible and filled with believable characters for whom you could root. It's not that Micky Ward isn't a good guy, it's that he lacks a personality. A personality would have gone a long way toward engaging the viewer.
And, true to its clichéd nature, the film tries to save itself with your garden-variety title match, akin to the Championship Game in just about every baseball movie made. I'll leave it to you to decide how it ends, although the fact that the movie is based on a true story might be a clue.