Review of Play It to the Bone (1999) by Steve H — 07 Oct 2009

Ron Shelton's umpteenth sports film finds best friend low-rate boxers Vince (Woody Harrelson, "Natural Born Killers") and Cesar (Antonio Bandares, "Philadelphia") called up to fight on the undercard of a Mike Tyson Pay-Per-View in Las Vegas after the original fighters end up dead and overdosed. They set out to Vegas in a car along with Grace (Lolita Davidovich) who's the current girlfriend of Cesar and ex of Vince.

It seems ripe for comedy, but little is actually done with it. They bicker here and there, they relive the moments that faulted their careers, and stop for breakfast in a diner. Perhaps director Ron Shelton can't find a way to make characters work when sports aren't involved or something.

Along the way they pick up an oversexed Lucy Liu ("Charlie's Angels") who flirts with the guys, causes shit with Grace, and then leaves. One of many characters who appear and vanish with no real plot logic. Tom Sizemore appears as the fight's promoter, albeit briefly, and several famous names make cameos during the final fight, one of which now locked arm & arm with Lucy Liu's character in one of the few funny moments.

The fight itself is handled well enough that the film actually seems to pick up. Earlier in the car, Lucy Liu asks if anyone wants to smoke a joint. They turn her down (though "Pot King" Woody Harrelson obviously has a sparkle in his eye about it). I'm not sure if maybe they did smoke that joint, or maybe Ron Shelton did. Or maybe the fighters stumbled onto some acid prior to the fight. For whatever reason, the latter part of the fight is a mess of hallucinagenic visions involving middle fingers, naked women, and a bare-assed man (thanks to Antonio Bandares fascination with gays). Not once or even twice does this happen but instead it floods the entire latter part of the fight making the movie almost unrecognizable in terms of humor from the first half of the film.

It's by far one of Shelton's worst in a career involving "Bull Durham" and "White Man Can't Jump". There's the occasional laugh between Vince and Cesar, and of course Vince's berating of Cesar when he reveals a past homosexual lifestyle...which lasted a year...just because he lost a fight in Madison Square Garden to a gay boxer. None of the cast shines or is ever really given a chance to resulting in a dud of a film.