Directed by: Ron Howard
Starring: Russell Crowe, Renee Zellweger, Paul Giamatti, Craig Bierko, Bruce McGill, Paddy Considine
I've seen enough boxing movies to know I really don't need to see any more. They end with the "big fight". Most of these fights are well-choreographed, but unrealistically action-packed. More punches are thrown in the first round of a Rocky fight than entire twelve-round heavyweight title fights. Also, some rounds are over with in thirty seconds, while the final round lasts five minutes. The last boxing movie I saw was Southpaw, which was such an absorbing story about a boxer trying to reclaim his life after his wife's death, that I didn't even want to see a final match. (Spoiler alert: He wins the title back. Whoop-dee-doo).
Cinderella Man is an above-average boxing film about Depression-era heavyweight Jim Braddock (Crowe), who stages an unlikely comeback into the fight game years after breaking his hand and losing his boxing license. He works unsteadily at the local docks which actually aids him in regaining his punching strength by lifting heavy crates and boxes. His family lives in poverty while barely managing to keep the electricity from being shut off and avoiding eviction. Along with his manager Joe Gould (Giamatti), Braddock wins his comeback fights over some top contenders and becomes a folk hero as he is granted a title shot against the fearsome champion Max Baer (Bierko), who is very tall, very powerful, and very nasty. He killed two fighters in the ring, which causes understandable concern for Jim's loving wife Mae (Zellweger), who has never seen any of Jim's fights or even heard them on the radio because she fears the pounding he will take.
Director Howard reteams with A Beautiful Mind (2001) star Crowe and screenwriter Akiva Goldsman to bring us the untold story of the boxer who had the misfortune of competing in an era alongside legends like Max Schmeling, Joe Louis, and Baer. Their stories have been told time and again through biopics and documentaries. Braddock's is every bit as intriguing, but mostly unheralded until the release of this film in 2005. Since Howard is a top-notch director, he can maneuver his way around this story without falling into traps or clichés. The final fight is very well done, focusing more on realism and strategy than two guys tirelessly pounding the tar out of one another.
We have a rooting interest in Braddock because Crowe plays him not as a savage, but a man humbled by life, struggling day-to-day to feed his family, while fearing disappointing his loyal wife by wanting to box again. His reasons are easy to identify with and understand. He can make a lot more dough punching people (and being punched) than showing up at the docks where gainful employment is a daily crapshoot. Zellweger gives us a supportive, caring Mae whose best moment occurs when she tracks down Gould to his New York apartment and gives him the what for about persuading Jim to return to boxing. She thinks Gould is trying to simply enrich himself at the expense of Jim's health. What she discovers about Gould's living situation provides the most powerful moment in the film, in which we learn the sacrifices he himself has made in standing by Braddock. Giamatti was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for this tricky role. He doesn't show us all the cards because he needs to keep up appearances as a wheeling-dealing manager who knows a thing or two about boxing.
Max Baer, Jr. wasn't thrilled with how the movie presented his father as a villain with little regard for killing someone in the ring. I agree with this. The movie didn't need to present Baer as a cartoonish Rocky villain whose clock needs to be cleaned by Braddock. Bierko is an imposing physical presence, but the movie would've been better served if he didn't play such an obvious pro wrestling type of heel. Cinderella Man engages our desire to see Braddock come out on top, not because the movie manipulates us into rooting for him, but because we witness a good man who fell on hard times who receives a second chance to simply provide for his family the best way he knows how.
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