Cinderella Man is a remarkable true story of an average heavyweight boxer James J. Braddock who against all the odds became heavyweight champion of the world during the depression era inter-war years.
Ron Howard directs this superbly, using classy and intimate shots for the fight scenes but it is the tough depression backstory that he tells in excellent fashion which really elevates this movie. Crowe is perfect as a gentle and committed family man who happens to be a heavyweight boxer, and he plays both the in ring fight scenes and gentle family moments with his wife and kids with equal quality.
In fact we have an all star cast with Renee Zellweger very believable as his wife and 1930's lady (she has that look somehow). It is however, Paul Giamatti who steals the show and puts in a career best performance and rightly received an Oscar nomination for his supporting role as Manager & Coach to Braddock. He often gets thrown in to movies to give a fast talking comedic twist but he matches that here with real tenderness and compassion in his unwavering support for Braddock as both a boxer and a person.
By the final fight we are rooting heavily for the underdog, and although I'm sure liberties were made with the movie adaptation of this true story, it is still nonetheless remarkable, and can be enjoyed in so many ways as an action movie, drama and period piece, that it deserves greater recognition than its modest box office returns merited.
9/10.
Ron Howard directs this superbly, using classy and intimate shots for the fight scenes but it is the tough depression backstory that he tells in excellent fashion which really elevates this movie. Crowe is perfect as a gentle and committed family man who happens to be a heavyweight boxer, and he plays both the in ring fight scenes and gentle family moments with his wife and kids with equal quality.
In fact we have an all star cast with Renee Zellweger very believable as his wife and 1930's lady (she has that look somehow). It is however, Paul Giamatti who steals the show and puts in a career best performance and rightly received an Oscar nomination for his supporting role as Manager & Coach to Braddock. He often gets thrown in to movies to give a fast talking comedic twist but he matches that here with real tenderness and compassion in his unwavering support for Braddock as both a boxer and a person.
By the final fight we are rooting heavily for the underdog, and although I'm sure liberties were made with the movie adaptation of this true story, it is still nonetheless remarkable, and can be enjoyed in so many ways as an action movie, drama and period piece, that it deserves greater recognition than its modest box office returns merited.
9/10.
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