Viewed in
2011
Formats
Movie theater (digital)
Premise
Mark Wahlberg stars as a struggling Bostonian boxer who has an iron-fisted mother for a manager (Melissa Leo) and a junkie brother for a trainer (Christian Bale). Based on the career of Mickey Ward.
Liked
The performances, the characters.
Thoughts
Great acting and a deserved emotional payoff overcome some writing/directing flaws.
I definitely enjoyed the performances from top to bottom. Wahlberg was believable as the underdog lead, and Amy Adams had some awesome moments as the supportive, but take-no-crap girlfriend. Relatively unknown Jack McGee shined the brightest of the smaller roles as Mickey's sympathetic dad. As expected, Bale grabbed the spotlight with his mind-boggling physical transformation as well as hypnotic act. But the true scene-stealer was Melissa Leo as Mickey's control-freak, manipulative, negligent mother. Her presence was painful and unforgettable.
The story was pretty strong for it genre. It rightfully focused on the dysfunctional family and how it affect Mickey's goals. With strong dialogue, none of the characters felt like cardboard cutouts. Despite some predictability, there were some good twists, such as a girlfriend who actually had a spine and brain. By the time the obligatory emotional scenes rolled in, the film had succeeded in touching my heart.
Despite this good stuff, I felt underwhelmed walking out of the theater. Perhaps my expectations were too high for such a talented cast and winning trailer. When you have a familiar underdog story, the acting and writing really need to transcend so the audience will forget that they already know what happens next. I rarely felt that.
Another thing that bugged me was the film was marketed as an "indie" genre, which felt odd when the film went conventional (queue Aerosmith's "Back in the Saddle" for the training montage) or hokey (superimposing family flashbacks for Bale's character when his acting could have sold it) or sitcom-like (the scene when the mother and her army of daughters march down on Mickey's girlfriend's house). These were techniques I'd expect out of a standard sports movie.
When I first saw the trailer, I was in. I could not imagine a better cast, and they delivered wonderfully. But I wanted more than just a really well-done boxing movie. Something tells me if this film came out during summer blockbuster time instead of awards season, I would have loved it a lot more. I blame David O. Russell for "playing it safe", but feel free to accuse me of unreasonable expectations.
What I would change
Not sure.
