Not a Rocky, Million Dollar Baby or a Cinderella Man--just foul mouthed

Rating: 6/10 (31 December 2010)

There have been so many good boxing movies over the years: Raging Bull and Rocky set the bar extremely high for boxing movies; On the Waterfront showed a great portrayal of a failed boxer dealing with life; Million Dollar Baby was a spectacular look at the relationship between boxer and trainer; Cinderella Man was a perfect example of the comeback; Somebody Up There Likes Me was a nice movie; The Boxer (Daniel Day Lewis) was a great film about overcoming the odds; Hard Times (Charles Bronson) was a terrific film about bare fisted boxing.
The Fighter was not comparable to the aforementioned movies in many ways: there was no character development whatsoever -- so you do not feel the joy of a Rocky winning or the pain of Maggie Fitzgerald breaking her neck -- you feel nothing at the end. The script was laced with profanity -- way too much profanity -- you feel like you are the one being punched in the face with all the foul language. I do not think there is a single line that does not have the F-bomb (or an equivalent vileness) spouted from any of the characters. The movie plays like a foul-mouthed Jerry Springer episode and looks like it was made for today's vile, uneducated, ignorant generation.
I admire that the "real" Mickey fought against the odds and won a title and I admire that the "real" Dicky cleaned his life up and went on to help his brother in his time of need. I do not think the movie's portrayal of the characters did much to emphasize what could have been a good movie about comebacks and life changes.
Not Rocky--not Raging Bull--nowhere near Million Dollar Baby or Cinderella Man--wait for it on video.