Summer Movie Mania, Again

This past Friday I pulled off the unprecedented Triple Matinee!!! That is right, three movies starting before 6 pm all for a discounted price. Finally there were some movies to see, all three were new releases this week. For fear of making you extremely bored in a single post, I will review them separately, also that way it looks like I have material all week long. The three movies were of course; Cinderella Man, Lords of Dogtown, and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. I will say that these were all quality movies, yes even the Traveling Pants movie. Today we will look at Cinderella Man.

Now there are some things we have to look at before we get into the teeth of this review. People love to jump on a movie like this and get all “indy” and anti-Hollywood. People like to say oh this is just another picture that is just trying to win as many Oscars as they can. This is just another formulaic movie about a guy down on his luck who becomes a hero. All boxing movies are the same, isn’t this just another Rocky, or Million Dollar Baby, or Raging Bull or even more closely related to the depression era Seabiscuit. No you morons all of those movies were different and special in their own way, just like this movie. All of those excuses are bullshit!! Here are 2 facts I know about this movie, Russell Crowe is an excellent actor and Ron Howard is a quality director, and if these two people get together and make a movie it has a shot at being very good. And that is exactly what this movie is, very good.

What is it you want out of a movie, in order for it to be entertaining and well done? Well first of all we want a good storyline, something compelling that peaks our interest. Okay well that is a no brainer with this film; the story of James J. Braddock is one of the most inspirational of all time. Second you look for quality acting. Again, this one delivers on that angle even before you see the movie, Russell Crowe is one of the most accomplished actors of his day, Paul Giamatti is a quality character actor, and Renee Zelwegger can hold her own in the movies. Even the secondary characters were played by very good actors; Bruce McGill (most famously known as D-Day in Animal House) Patty Considine (In America) and Nicholas Campbell (veteran of over 50 films). Lastly, you look for the filmmakers and whether or not they have good history of making films; well again Imagine Entertainment headed by producer Brian Grazer and Director Ron Howard are known for making well shot, edited and technically solid films. While some may say they do nothing groundbreaking, they also usually don’t do anything wrong. So going into this movie you have a real good chance of getting a quality product.

I was not so sure what to expect when I first saw this film, I knew the story but not so sure how it would be told. Howard does a good job of quickly establishing Braddock’s success during the decade of the roaring 20’s. Then the film quickly took a dark tone and really tried to immerse you in the depression and what families were going through. Russell Crowe did a great job of bringing to life this down on his luck hard working tough Irish Catholic man. During this point of the film when we are exploring the depths of the characters there are so many scenes with intensity and a despair about them which makes your stomach turn. There is the time were Braddock gives his daughter his breakfast and then makes a pre dawn walk down to the docks, with the hopes of getting work. After the families electricity has been shut off Braddock and his wife are about to have dinner (that is laughable to call what they were eating “dinner”) and they clench hands to say grace, and Braddock simply pulls his hands away and says that he is all prayed out. Now for a proud hard working Irish Catholic to not say grace during that time period because he felt in a way that God had let him down was stunning. My grandfather, whom I never knew, started his family during this time much like Braddock. And though his family had very little as well he was devoted to God everyday of his life. Regardless of how tough the times were he went to church and prayed. To see Russell Crowe deliver this performance was unbelievable. His accent, his actions, everything he did was believable.

There were so many other good parts to the movie. The production and set design was beautiful. The old armories and venues where they used to hold these boxing events were classic. They had that gritty feel to them, and the men inside were as tough and hardened by the depression as the venue itself (remember a lot of these same men would go on to lead our country to its greatest military victory only a decade later, including Braddock). Ron Howard went to great lengths to help recreate this entire time period with a great deal of precision. He uses some wonderful long slow pans and pull out shots to help you see the despair that these people were going through. During the final fight scene there were great shots of Father Rorick hooking the radio up so that everyone could listen in the church. Braddock’s kids sneaking into the basement to hear the fight on the radio, and sometimes Howard would allow us to experience the fight this way, rather than just watching what happened.

The other actors gave wonderful performances. Paddy Considine played a working buddy of Braddock’s whose family was also being ripped apart by the depression. He falls into a deep depression fueled by alcohol and eventually runs away from his family, because he cannot provide for them. Considine does not have many scenes but he is wonderful in the few that he has. Bruce McGill plays a shrewd boxing promoter, who seems to be one of the few people still riding high during the depression and he takes away Braddock’s chances of ever boxing again. Paul Giamatti absolutely is the star of the movie. As Braddock’s friend and manager he is superb. He adds a great sense of humor to what is essentially a depressing movie, and he gives a wonderfully caring performance. You can feel his hurt for Braddock throughout the film, and you see how loyal he remains to his friend. During the pre fight and fight scenes Giamatti gives great boxing instruction and plays the part of a boxing corner man very well. I was thinking to myself during one scene, wow Giamatti is like a real manager in there, and then I look at the cut man in Braddock’s corner and it is an old white haired guy who looks familiar. And then I realized it is Angelo Dundee (Muhammed Ali’s manager) one of the great boxing men of all time. The only performance that was below average was that of Renee Zelwegger. Everything she did was just kind of plane. There was a real intensity behind it. I was a little disappointed in her performance, but in no way did it ruin the movie. Plus she had no Jersey accent, that is what really brings Crowe’s performance alive.

The last 30 minutes of this movie was very palpable. You could feel the blood, sweat and tears of everyone before and during the final fight with Max Baer where Braddock impossibly wins the title. Again this isn’t hyperbole, he really was down to nothing, no electricity, no heat, no milk, no job, had to give his kids away, he sold his boxing equipment, he went days without eating, he went on public assistance and yet he some how made this improbable comeback. The hairs on my body were standing for the last hour of this movie. It really is a great story and brought to the silver screen in a very good fashion.

Now I may be overrating this movie. To me, as noted earlier with the story about my grandfather, this movie is intensely personal to me. First, my other set of grandparents lived in apartment building on the northern side of James J. Braddock Park in North Bergen New Jersey. My aunt’s and uncle’s and scores of relatives on my mother’s side grew up knowing Jim Braddock and his children. They were all poor Irish immigrants fighting for survival in the suburbs of New York City. His family’s story could very well be that of Willie and Winnie Mahon (my grandparents). My relatives knew this guy, listened to his fights on the radio. These very same people whom he “inspired” in the movie are relatives of mine.

I saw this movie a second time to make sure I did not miss anything or over or underrate anything. And I didn’t. We are going to start a ratings system, out of 10, that way you get more of a scale, increases go up .5 points.

9 out of 10