Cinderella Man

Reportedly, Sylvester Stallone based the original “Rocky” on the life of Chuck Wepner (the "Bayonne Bleeder" who once got a title shot against Muhammad Ali). Perhaps, but it is hard to imagine a fighter whose story is closer to Rocky's than James Braddock. Braddock, a once promising fighter, was reduced by circumstance and luck to a stumblebum existence eking out a living on the docks during the Depression. Then, defying all logic, he wins a series of fights against better opponents, culminating in a unanimous decision for the Heavyweight title against an over-confident and under-trained Max Baer. In “Cinderella Man,” Braddock (played by Russell Crowe) is portrayed as a paragon of virtue, a man so loyal, honest, and steadfast that it practically makes your teeth hurt. The movie is wonderfully produced, burnished to a golden glow, and competently directed by Ron Howard. The fights scenes are tough and realistic. The story is compelling. The weakness in the picture is, surprisingly, the acting. Nobody is bad, exactly, but everyone's performance seems extremely mannered. Rather than becoming the characters, they play the characters, and all of them seem to have watched too many old movies by way of preparation.

Renee Zellweger, as Braddock's wife, is dislikable from the start (at first she seems to be channeling, in some weird way, Fran Drescher, and it's pretty annoying). Crowe, who usually disappears into his character, constantly brings to mind, of all things, Sylvester Stallone playing Rocky, right down to the self deprecation, the homespun answers at the press conference, and even the Joisey/Brooklyn accent. Watching Paul Giamatti (as Joe Gould, Braddock's trainer/manager) I kept hearing Jennifer Jason Leigh in The Hudsucker Proxy, where she played--very well--a caricature of a fast-talking gal full of moxie, I tell ya! Cinderella Man is a decent picture, but could have benefited from more moxie, and less caution.