Review of Cinderella Man (2005) by Riccardo Antonio R — 20 May 2012

Ron Howard employs every sports movie cliché in the book for "Cinderella Man", an old-fashioned tale of Depression era rags and riches for legendary pugilist J.J. Braddock. In Howard's defense, it's hard to tell a story of this nature nowadays without seeming cliché, but at least the viewer knows what's in store, and for those who enjoy a typical inspirational underdog story, the film more-or-less delivers by virtue of its performances.

Russell Crowe makes Braddock a human centre worthy of our rooting attention, Paul Giamatti is appropriately charismatic as his wily manager, and Renee Zellweger proves the unsung hero of the picture as Braddock's hardworking, emotionally frayed wife.

Howard's aesthetic has moments of greatness but lacks unity. Salvatore Totino's photography is well framed but his color palette is inconsistent (not the way to go for gloomy Depression era imagery), while Thomas Newman's score is fairly derivative of his previous work except when it's not (another mark of tonal inconsistency).

The craftsmen who deserve the most credit are sound mixers Bob Chefalas and Tom Fleischman for keeping up with Dan Hanley and Mike Hill's rapid-fire editing.