Cinderella Man

December 11, 2005

Rated: PG-13 Runtime: 144 min Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Holy Bloody Seabiscuit, Batman! Did MfG give this depression-era, feel-good, sentimental bucket of goo four stars?!?!

Yep. It’s true. In a perfect world, a movie reviewer would never take prejudice or bias into a movie. That’s a nice thought, but we don’t live in a perfect world and, indeed, bias and prejudice is somewhat the point here at MfG. That being said, it should be noted that I walked into Cinderella Man wanting to dislike it. I had a pretty good idea what I was about to see and, yep, I got exactly what I was expecting.

On the plus side, I expected to see great direction. Ron Howard is at the top of his game and has been churning out movies that produce murmurings of “instant classic” for several years now. I also expected to see some incredible acting performances. The casting here is impeccable and they all deliver, as I suspected they would, under Howard’s near-perfect guidance. Giamatti, in particular, as Joe Gould, is somehow able to channel the spirits of all the great boxing managers of the early 20th century and deserves every award he can get for his performance.

However, on the down side, I got everything I expected, too. I expected way too much time to be spent dwelling on the Great Depression and the tragic human conditions that existed back then. At nearly two and a half hours, this movie should have gone on a low-schmaltz diet and lost about 40 minutes. I also expected Howard to shamelessly attempt to yank tears from the audience during these sequences and I was right again. Some would probably describe this flick as a ‘chick-flick in disguise’ and, although I’d disagree with that assessment, it isn’t *too* far off the mark.

Couple all the gratuitous sentimentality along with the blood-lite fights (with a third less blood than your regular boxing movie), and women everywhere will be scrambling to see this flick.

So why four stars? Frankly, I’m not entirely sure myself. I can say that the boxing sequences are *extremely* well done. The cinematographer brought some sorely needed creativity into a tired action medium that, with the exception of Million Dollar Baby, had been languishing for many years.

I also know that part of my fondness for the movie is reflected in the values that Howard brings to the screen. A part of myself resonates with what seems to be his belief that, gosh-darnit, America is a great place and conservative family men that take pride in their work and are ashamed of asking for handouts (but do it when it means the difference between feeding their family and starving on the streets) make up the real strength of this nation. You just don’t get that in movies these days, either, and it’s a nice change of pace.

But, in the end, you can’t escape the fact that Cinderella Man is a heaping helping of sugary sweet apple pie. No, it’s not the testosterone-laden 24 oz. Ribeye steak you might have been hoping for, but it’s so well made you don’t really care if you happen to look a little fru-fru while enjoying it.

Popularity: 19% [?]

Posted by Alex | Filed Under 4 Stars, Action, Bruce McGill, Craig Bierko, DVD, Drama, PG-13, Paul Giamatti, Renee Zellweger, Russell Crowe