Fresh Reviews: "The Fighter"

Rated R for strong language, sexual situations and boxing violence.

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I'm not even remotely a boxing fan, and I've never cared for Mark Wahlberg as an actor. So I figured I could hold off on this one until it played second run, but the Oscar nominations... and all of the positive reviews it's received... made me think it might be worth a try, so I went to see it later the same day the nominations were announced. My opinion, as it happens, hasn't changed a bit, and my top ten list will not be revised yet again to make room for this one.

This allegedly true story tells about brothers Micky (Mark Wahlberg) and Dicky (Christian Bale). Dicky, a former champion boxer, has fallen on hard times and these days mostly hangs out at a crack house. Meanwhile, he's taken to training and managing brother Micky, who aims to be a star boxer himself. But Dicky's addictions make him unreliable, and Micky makes a decision that starts to tear the family apart when he takes on new management that he thinks will get him to his goal faster. He's urged on in this by his new girlfriend (Amy Adams), who wants him to abandon the family.

I know it's all supposedly a true story, but I have to review the movie itself, not real life. And as a movie, I'm sorry, but I've seen it all before. And done better before.

If this really is a reflection of how events took place, then this is one time when real life worked out just like all the usual cliches of boxing movies. Helpful girlfriend who doesn't seem to have much of a function except to cheer on her man? Check. Troublesome relative whom our hero feels a probably unfounded sense of loyalty and duty to? Check. Working class boxer hero just looking for his first big break? Check. In fact, so far it's pretty much the "Rocky" story, with Walhberg in the Stallone role. It also takes several elements from a 1990's movie called "The Price Of Glroy", in which Jimmy Smits plays a former champ boxer training his sons in the game until they change sides and start working for another manager they think will help them become famous quicker.

And what's with the acting nominations? I'm definitely not among those who feel that Wahlberg got robbed by not getting nominated in spite of the other nominations from this film. Rather, I wonder how the folks who WERE nominated got their nods. I genuinely like all of them... Christian Bale has taken us inside the heads of some of the most memorable characters and made us understand them, Amy Adams in addition to radiating potent charm in light comedy has also shown a real talent for darker stuff, and Melissa Leo SHOULD HAVE won the Oscar she was nominated for in "Frozen River". But Bale just plays his role as a typical punch-drunk loser, Adams has virtually nothing to do in another "girlfriend" role no different from hundreds of others, and while Leo injects a little spark into the movie at first, she becomes grating before long as Bale and Walhberg's mother, along with the actresses playing his sisters, who all seem like they should be trying out for a "dysfunctional white trash family" episode of the Jerry Spring show.

I would think that if I were a member of any of the actual families depicted in this movie, I'd resent the way I was portrayed, but several of the real people show up in a little clip shown over the end credits, in which they even thank the "Hollywood people". So as far as I know, I might be slamming the actual lives these folks led in the course of this review. Sorry, guys. But as a movie, this just doesn't work for me. I'm totally puzzled at how it's inspired so much love and respect from so many people. And if you happen to think that I'm completely off base on this one, that's certainly your right. But certainly of the nine films I've seen of the ten "Best Picture" nominations (still awaiting "127 Hours"), this is the one that impresses me the least. In fact, it's the only one that I'd say is not deserving of the "Best Film" award. What's wrong with that JBunce character, anyhow?