Review of Grudge Match (2013) by Jesse O — 16 Apr 2014

The only reason for this film's existence is the fact that both Stallone and De Niro both played boxers in famous films. Stallone in Rocky, obviously, and De Niro as Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull, which if you haven't seen then you definitely should as it's one of De Niro's, and Scorsese's, best.

That's really the only reason for this film's existence and this film even has some nods to those older, and better, films. The only thing this film has is a good cast and really not much else.

Alan Arkin and Kevin Hart, particularly the latter, have some really funny lines and the film benefits from their presence, but the film is marred by sport movie cliches, including countless old jokes, a lot of them by Arkin, etc.

I don't really think this film had much potential to begin with, but it's certainly watchable enough. I wasn't offended or anything while watching this film. Other than the fact that there's no sports commission, in the United States at least, that would give these guys at this age a license to fight.

No way, no how...these guys would never get sanctioned. But if that's what you were worried about, then why bother watching the film in the first place you know? You know the film's about two 60+ year old men fighting each other one last time in order to settle their rivalry and see who the better boxer was.

The film also sees Razor and Kid reconnecting with their ex and son, respectively, and that's about as cliched as you can get. Kid had sex, and fathered a child, with Razor's ex and that has made their rivalry even more personal.

You know, that type of stuff. It really sucks that the film didn't really have more for Kevin Hart to do, because he's very energetic and easily has the best lines in the entire movie. The climactic boxing match is decent, but you've seen better in films like The Fighter or even the last Rocky movie, so if you want to see it for that, then it's been done better elsewhere.

I can't, in good conscience, knowing that there are better boxing films out there, really recommend this. It's certainly watchable and it has its moments, but a strong cast is hampered by a poor script that relies on cliches instead of creating an interesting story of its own.

You could certainly watch worse films this weekend, but that's not necessarily a glowing recommendation.