Cinderella Man

Much hyped before its release, partly because of Crowe's antics in hotels and the like, Cinderella Man tells the true-ish story of boxer James J Braddock. The film opens in 1928 just as Braddock's career seems to be on the cusp of the big time. Fast-forward 5 years to 1933 and the throes of the Depression. Braddock has lost all his money in the stock crash but, touchingly, domestic bliss has not been blitzed despite relentless poverty and hardship. His career too has taken a dive and he is playing low-grade fights with multiple injuries while trying to feed his hungry family and get casual labouring jobs during the day. However, when his boxing license gets revoked, the going gets extremely tough for the Braddocks. While there is no denying Russell Crowe is an excellent actor, choosing to working with Ron Howard seems ill advised. Granted it has propelled him onto a global platform, but Howard remains a schmaltzy director who underestimates the intelligence of his audience. Concentrating more on Braddock's everyman struggle the pace of the movie is slow but sure, a bit like the man himself, and until the fighting scenes crunch onscreen this is a tender but fairly unremarkable biopic. The combination of Crowe, Giamatti and Zellweger is an effective one in this simplistic, glossy, toe-tingler of a tale.