Cinderella Man

I watched this film on June 4, 2005 over at the Coral Ridge 10 Cinema at the mall for the 6:30pm timeslot.

Starring Russell Crowe as the Depression era fighter James J. Braddock, Cinderella Man is at its heart a film about family and one man's struggle to keep his family together. Like many movies taking place during the depression, the film focuses on how Braddock might be down on his luck, but he still deserves a second chance. Several scenes depict the extreme poverty the family has to endure such as when Braddock and his wife add water to their children's breakfast milk in order to have enough for each of them.

The supporting cast all do a great job from Renée Zellweger as Mae Braddock, the fighter's wife who loves him and doesn't ever lose faith in him, to Paul Giamatti as Joe Gould, Braddock's manager. The film looks beautiful, encapsulating the feel of that timeperiod. The movie's only detractions are the boxing matches themselves since they lack the focus and the energy you would expect from a piece about pugilism.

In the final score, Cinderella Man (albeit with a poorly named title) is a good film due to both a well-written script and Crowe's performance, so I'm ranking it a good on the scoreboard. Personally, I do not much like Mr. Crowe in real life, however, I must admit that the man can act.

Please feel free to comment on this review or on the movie itself at the forum thread devoted to it at this location.