Cinderella Man
The Voice of Reason got advance screening tickets for this one, and I have no natural defense against advance tickets. I will go see anything if it’s “advanced”. Paris Hilton flicks are fair game if it’s “advanced”. As are any movies where the trailer begins “In a world where…” And clearly, so is a movie with the tagline “When America was on its knees, he brought us to our feet.”
I hate that tagline. It reeks of emotional manipulation. It’s just sooooo Opie/Grazer “Beautiful Mind” and “Apollo 13” and filtered close-ups of Jennifer Connelly (or in this case, Renée Zellweger,) crying again and Russell Crowe playing determined and defeated in another accent that is not his own again. So I had kind of dismissed “Cinderella Man” as being the kind of film that lots of people will like, but no one will really remember before I even saw it. I told the Voice of Reason that I expected it to be a kind of “Seabiscuit”, you know?
And then she got mad at me and called “Seabiscuit” a piece of crap. And then I got all defensive, sputtering “but,… but,… Tobey Maguire!” And that’s how that led me to the possibility that even though “Cinderella Man” was going to be another emotional melodrama like “Seabiscuit”, hell I loved “Seabiscuit” for that moment in time and it’s nice to have a good cry in a dark theatre, okay?
So I loved “Cinderella Man”. I am only human.
“Cinderella Man” works overtime for the money. It puts all its emotional hooks into you early: the Depression has worn the Braddock family’s pride away. Now all they have is each other. James (Crowe) is injured and must continue to box injured, which kills his winning record. They are cutting down shifts at his day job at the docks, and his broken hand does him no favours. His boxing license is pulled from him. When his oldest son steals from the butcher fearing being sent away to extended family elsewhere, James promises him they will never send him away. When wife Mae (Zellweger) does send the children away after their electricity is cut off, James is forced to beg for money from his old boxing promoters just to get his children back.
A one-time shot back into fighting at Madison Square Gardens leads to an improbable, yet true, winning streak, and a shot back at a title fight with animalistic champion Max Baer. And here is where the melodrama pulls out all the stops. The climax uses up every tension building trick in the book. The blows to the head that Braddock and Baer exchange are dizzying. The press crew re-writes their headlines with every punch. The crowd moves from proud silence, to rousing encouragement, to jeers, to stunned silence, to pandemonium. Braddock’s coach, Joe Gould (Paul Giamatti!) paces back and forth and mutters nervously behind the ropes. Braddock and Baer size each other up with evil intent. The violin strings of suspense wail away. CAN YOU HEAR THEM? What if Braddock LOSES? What if Baer KILLS HIM?
And through all of it, I am on the edge of my seat and the Voice of Reason is hiding her head in my sleeve because she can’t take it anymore. It’s lovely and the payoff is great. Even though I think both Crowe and Zellweger are kind of obnoxious, there is no denying that they are compelling onscreen. Plus, there is GIAMATTI, who steals every scene he is in with a kind of tired intensity that is uniquely his.
“Cinderella Man” is the kind of dramatic and inspiring true story adaptation that Ron Howard has built his reputation on bringing to the screen. And who am I to judge? I’ve seen “Apollo 13” eleventy-eight thousand times, and I still get scared during the black-out. What if they don’t make it? After fifteen gruelling rounds in the ring with Baer, I was exhausted and elated for "Cinderella Man".
I hate that tagline. It reeks of emotional manipulation. It’s just sooooo Opie/Grazer “Beautiful Mind” and “Apollo 13” and filtered close-ups of Jennifer Connelly (or in this case, Renée Zellweger,) crying again and Russell Crowe playing determined and defeated in another accent that is not his own again. So I had kind of dismissed “Cinderella Man” as being the kind of film that lots of people will like, but no one will really remember before I even saw it. I told the Voice of Reason that I expected it to be a kind of “Seabiscuit”, you know?
And then she got mad at me and called “Seabiscuit” a piece of crap. And then I got all defensive, sputtering “but,… but,… Tobey Maguire!” And that’s how that led me to the possibility that even though “Cinderella Man” was going to be another emotional melodrama like “Seabiscuit”, hell I loved “Seabiscuit” for that moment in time and it’s nice to have a good cry in a dark theatre, okay?
So I loved “Cinderella Man”. I am only human.
“Cinderella Man” works overtime for the money. It puts all its emotional hooks into you early: the Depression has worn the Braddock family’s pride away. Now all they have is each other. James (Crowe) is injured and must continue to box injured, which kills his winning record. They are cutting down shifts at his day job at the docks, and his broken hand does him no favours. His boxing license is pulled from him. When his oldest son steals from the butcher fearing being sent away to extended family elsewhere, James promises him they will never send him away. When wife Mae (Zellweger) does send the children away after their electricity is cut off, James is forced to beg for money from his old boxing promoters just to get his children back.
A one-time shot back into fighting at Madison Square Gardens leads to an improbable, yet true, winning streak, and a shot back at a title fight with animalistic champion Max Baer. And here is where the melodrama pulls out all the stops. The climax uses up every tension building trick in the book. The blows to the head that Braddock and Baer exchange are dizzying. The press crew re-writes their headlines with every punch. The crowd moves from proud silence, to rousing encouragement, to jeers, to stunned silence, to pandemonium. Braddock’s coach, Joe Gould (Paul Giamatti!) paces back and forth and mutters nervously behind the ropes. Braddock and Baer size each other up with evil intent. The violin strings of suspense wail away. CAN YOU HEAR THEM? What if Braddock LOSES? What if Baer KILLS HIM?
And through all of it, I am on the edge of my seat and the Voice of Reason is hiding her head in my sleeve because she can’t take it anymore. It’s lovely and the payoff is great. Even though I think both Crowe and Zellweger are kind of obnoxious, there is no denying that they are compelling onscreen. Plus, there is GIAMATTI, who steals every scene he is in with a kind of tired intensity that is uniquely his.
“Cinderella Man” is the kind of dramatic and inspiring true story adaptation that Ron Howard has built his reputation on bringing to the screen. And who am I to judge? I’ve seen “Apollo 13” eleventy-eight thousand times, and I still get scared during the black-out. What if they don’t make it? After fifteen gruelling rounds in the ring with Baer, I was exhausted and elated for "Cinderella Man".
posted by nerdifer at 5:00 PM
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