Directed by:
Ron HowardCinematography:
Salvatore TotinoComposer:
Thomas NewmanCast:
Russell Crowe, Renée Zellweger, Paul Giamatti, Craig Bierko, Paddy Considine, Bruce McGill, Rosemarie DeWitt, Chuck Shamata, Ron Canada, Fulvio Cecere (more)VOD (3)
Plots(1)
In a time when America needed a champion, an unlikely hero would arise, proving how hard a man would fight to win a second chance for his family and himself. Suddenly thrust into the national spotlight, boxer Jim Braddock would defy the odds against him and stun the world with one of the greatest comebacks in history. Driven by love for his family, he willed an impossible dream to come true. (official distributor synopsis)
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Reviews (12)
The life story of Jim Braddock is, of course, an excellent subject for a film. This famous boxer was from the interwar generation that shaped the dreams of ordinary people in the boxing ring, inspired them and gave them hope. After all, all of the names in the heavyweight champion category are well-known names: Jess Willard, Jack Dempsey, Gene Tunney, Max Schmeling, Jack Sharkey, Primo Carnera, Max Baer, James J. Braddock, and Joe Louis. They are all heroes of the modern age. Yet Braddock was a miracle, an ordinary guy who toiled through poverty and hardship during the Depression and rose to the top by beating two-foot giant Max Baer, a victory no one was expecting. The movie basically wrote itself. Russell Crowe outdid himself once again, and there were no dry eyes in the movie theater. I could imagine a dozen better actresses in Renée Zellweger's place, but never mind that. Cinderella Man will definitely be in the hall of fame as one of the best boxing movies. Right up there with the drama portrayed in the Schmeling vs. Louis match.
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Cinderella Man is thus far Ron Howard's best film and possibly the best boxing film I've ever seen. Howard may not bring a breath of fresh air to this well-known genre, but he skillfully manipulates the given formulas and squeezes out emotions out of me like a poem. When Braddock suffers, tears well up in my eyes; when he fights, I am moved to root for him. And huge praise to Russell Crowe, because what he delivers is simply unbelievable, and it's a shame that he hasn't played any similar roles in another period genre film since then. Russell, this was your night.
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Ron Howard takes a risk this time in playing games with viewers’ trust, and he finds even greater success than last time in terms of emotional tension. During the final match, I felt the blows that Braddock takes just as much as his wife and I could tell from the viewers around me that I wasn’t alone. Russell Crowe is truly excellent.
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A typically Howard-style idealized fairytale based on true events. Here the characters are black and white, it’s full of clichés and basically almost disgustingly superficial. But on the other hand, this works in all respects - while having nothing to act, the actors at least have charisma, the production design is just right, giving a wonderful image of New York at the time of the Wall Street Crash, and particularly the boxing matches are perfectly edited. This is no world-shattering movie, but you get exactly what you expect from a picture of this type.
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The craftsmanship is very good and Russel Crowe’s excellent performance is so impressive that I ended up liking this film, even despite the shallow script; really, it lacks all depth and only plays a cynical game with the viewer’s feelings (Braddock is losing his strength, remembers a suffering child and wins… WTF). The poignant and pathetic scenes take so much time that they leave no room for any surprising twist (the story gets started, aims forward, speeds up a couple of times and doesn’t slow down even once). But I didn’t get bored, the final fight does generate some tension and I ended up satisfied. 7/10
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