Review of Fighting with My Family (2019) by Greatmartin — 27 Feb 2019

Sometimes you walk into a movie not expecting much and get completely caught off guard in a good way and that is just how I felt about "Fighting With My Family". Based on a true story we follow the tight-knit wrestling Knight family in Norwich, England, particularly brother Zak (Jack Lowden) and sister Saraya-Jade Bevis aka Paige (Florence Pugh) who both have the same dream of fighting for the WWE. They are finally given a chance to try out for a chance to go to the WWE's development league in Florida and there it will be decided who will go on to fight for the WWE.

Let's say I know so little about wrestling that what I know is from the early days of TV when it was shown in black and white and everyone 'knew' it was fake! Let me just add that after writing it 4 times I had to google the definition of WWE!! (Yeah, yeah, I know you all know but for the 2 besides me who didn't it is World Wrestling Entertainment.).

Without giving too much away Paige is chosen while Zak has to go home and deal with what he sees as being a failure plus becoming a father. The Knight family also consists of another brother serving time in prison and a father (Nick Frost) and mother (Lena Heady), not your common parents except they have involved their children in the family business--wrestling--since the day they were born. An important figure in Paige's life becomes the talent scout/coach Hutch (Vince Vaughn--I didn't know he was in the picture!), who is aware what makes a star in the ring.

Director/writer Stephen Merchant based the movie on a documentary of the family and he does a fine job dealing with the cliches of the sport, adding humor when needed and shows all the choreography that goes into a wrestling match. The only problem I had was understanding the accents in many scenes.

As Paige Florence Pugh does a star-making turn and Jack Lowden holds his own in some tough emotional scenes. As the parents, Nick Frost and Lena Heady are in a class of their own though going through the end credits where you see the real people the actors are very mild compared to the actual parents. Vince Vaughn really does a fine job as the all professional coach who can get the best out of the trainees by being tough and empathetic.

"Fighting With My Family" is the Rocky of wrestling and just as enjoyable though even if it is faked the 'sport' can cause some major injuries. When you get a chance, see it. I know I want to follow up watching the film by watching the documentary.