Review of Cinderella Man (2005) by Amy M — 24 Jan 2010

I love stories about men who are old, washed up, and passed their prime, going out for one last shot at glory or making a last stand for what they beleive is right. That is one of the reasons I really enjoyed this movie. Cinderella Man is the true story of James J. Braddock, a small time boxer during The Great Depression that got his shot at the big time. The movie follows Braddock as he struggles to support his family during the depression and his pride as a man is tested.

Directed by Ron Howard, this movie does a superb job of transporting you back to 1930's era New York during the depression, with the feeling of hopelessness running throughout the movie as Braddock and his family and friends are continuously hit with challenges that test their will to survive during the depression. Howard nails the feeling of the time perfectly, with Braddock going to the docks everyday hoping to be picked to work, the Hooverville's in Central Park, wellfare offices, pauper graves, group birthdays for children, as well as many other little touches that most people not well versed in the history of the time will not notice, but all of it adds up to completely immerse you in the era. The look and feel of this movie is incredible, and it should be one of the movies looked to when other filmakers need inspiration for a film set in this time period.

The acting in the movie is also magnificient, with Crowe delivering a great performance as Braddock, a family man who just wants his family to make it through the depression and will work as long as he has to and hard as he has to do that. One of the things that really caught me off guard about Crowe's performance was how great his accent was, he sounded exactly like a native New Yorker in the '30s, and absolutely nothing like his native Austrailian, his accent does not slip once. Crowe also does a great job of making Braddock likeable and a wholly three dimensional person, not just a stereotypical underdog. Paul Giamatti plays Braddock's boxing manager, Joe Gould, and as always, he rocks the part like nobodies' business. He also is a completely three dimensional person, not just the standard motivating coach, as he also plays Braddock's best friend. The rest of the cast is also great, including Renee Zellwegger as Braddock's wife, Mae.

Okay, so now to review the most important part of the movie: the boxing! Okay, that may be a bit of an exaggeration, but the movie does chronicle Braddock's rise from a no name punching bag to the number one contender for the World Heavy Weight Championship. The boxing scenes are absolutely phenomenal, and really do a good job of making feel the punches that are being thrown. The boxing scenes also show Howard's versatility as a director, where as the scenes out of the ring are simply, but effectively, shot, and are the standard type of filming you see in most small dramas; but, the boxing scenes are very elaborate, and carefully cut and put together, which allows Howard to flex his strength as someone who can blow you away with great camera work. There were several times during the boxing scenes where I litereally said to myself, "Damn, that is some impressive camera work!" It is usually hard to appreciate technical things such as that on a first viewing of a film, but when you do notice that quickly, that means that it was pretty freaking impressive. Although Howard changes his style of shooting between the drama out of the ring and the boxing matches, his shift in the style of filming does not seem out of place, but it flows organically with the rest of the movie. I also appreciated that Howard was able to balance some of the rapid cuts that take place during the matches without obscuring what is happening the way many directors do nowadays when shooting action, he lets you see what is happening, which immerses you in the fight and gets you to feeling every punch. Howard also nails many of the little details about boxing of the time, such as fighters using eight ounce gloves(they use twelve ounce today), and fights lasted fifteen rounds back then(twelve today also); again, these are little details and the average viewer would not notice them, but they make the film that much more immersive.

My only complaint against the film is it's portrayl of Max Baer, the Heavy Weight Champion that Braddock fought who killed two men in the ring. Baer was not proud of killing the men in real life and did not brag about it like the film makes him. I blame this on screenwriters Akiva Goldsman and Cliff Hollingsworth, not Howard or the actor that portrays him. This mischaracterization is my only major complaint because it makes Baer into a more sterotypical villian than one of the three dimensional people that all of the other characters in the film are. And for all of the miniscule details the movie gets right to immerse you in the time period and story of James Braddock, they did not put the Star of David on Max Baer's boxing shorts(he was Jewish and always had it on his shorts). Now I'm just being picky and that is a detail so small I cannot hold it against the movie.

If you are looking for a great inspirational story, a great true story, a great boxing movie, or just a great movie, this movie delivers. Thumbs up!