Review of Cinderella Man (2005) by Ross E — 07 Feb 2012

This is a prequel to Rocky, a financially destitute boxer (with a casual interest in pet turtles) works menial labor and gets an unlikely opportunity to fight for the title, while his loyal wife loathes his choice of profession and a burden of hope for his community rests on his shoulders.

Crowe and Zellweger are brilliant, ( a more interesting Rocky and Adrianne ); Giamatti is good but oddly distracting, odd because he is believable for this time period, and Bierko is unrecognizably good as the ominous Max Baer, but it's Braddock's children that add the final touches to the acting roster, their performances enhanced no doubt, by a former child actor like Howard directing.

Even if the production design is hampered by the monotonous color scheme in which every scene is shellacked with aged newspaper yellow, the captivating pacing maintains viewer interest, and, even with a hefty amount of drama subplot, and a movie that stretches to almost 2 and a half, I wanted to watch more.